GIFT  OF 


INDING  C< 


MEMOIRS  AND  SERVICES 

»> 

OF 

THREE  GENERATIONS 


GENERAL    JOSEPH    CILLEY 
First  New  Hampshire   Line.      War  of  the  Revolution 

JONATHAN    LONGFELLOW 
Father  of  Sarah,  wife  of  General  Joseph  Cilley 


COLONEL    JOSEPH    CILLEY 
U.  S.  Senator  and  Officer  in  the  War  of  1812 

HONORABLE    JONATHAN    CILLEY 
Member  of  Congress  from  Maine 


COMMANDER    GREENLEAF    CILLEY 
War  with  Mexico  and  War  of  1861 

GENERAL  JONATHAN  P.  CILLEY 
First  Maine  Cavalry,  War  of  the  Rebellion 


REPRINT  FROM  THE  COURIER-GAZETTE 


ROCKLAND,  MAINE 
1  909 


God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old, — 
Lord  of  our  far-flung  battle  line — 

Beneath  whose  awful  hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet,— 

Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget. 


359130 


GEN.  JONATHAN  P.  CILLEY 


The  Cilley-Graves  Affair 


Being  a  Concise  Account  of  the  Tragedy  Which 
Ended  the  Career  of  a  Famous  Member  of  a 
Famous  New  England  Family. 


From  time  to  time  in  the  last  50  years 
items  and  brief  articles  have  been  pub 
lished  in  the  local  press  relating  to  the 
famous  duel  in  which  Jonathan  Cilley 
of  Thomaston  was  killed  by  William  J. 
Graves  of  Kentucky.  Next  to  the  duel 
between  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
Aaron  Burr,  no  event  of  the  character 
ever  attracted  more  attention,  than 
that  beween  Graves  and  Cilley,  and  it 
is  accordingly  a  matter  of  national  in 
terest,  to  say  nothing  of  the  connect 
ions  which  make  it  of  pronounced  local 
importance. 

The  Lewiston  Journal  a  few  weeks 
ago  published  a  short  account  of  the 
affair,  but  with  this  issue  The  Courier- 
Gazette  publishes  an  installment  of  the 
first  story  which  has  ever  been  com 
piled  especially  for  the  convenience  of 
the  newspaper  readers  of  the  present 
day.  The  Journal's  story,  with  some 
corrections  is  used  as  the  foundation 
of  this  article,  and  the  cuts  published 
by  that  paper  have  been  remodelled  for 
the  purpose  of  illustration. 

One  of  the  most  noted  families  in  all 
New  England  is  the  one  from  which 
Gen.  Jonathan  P.  Cilley  of  Rockland 
originated.  For  more  than  a  full  cen 
tury  not  a  single  member  of  that  fam 


ily  has  been  unknown  to  fame,  and 
some  of  them  have  written  their  names 
high  up  in  the  temple  of  fame.  While 
dating  back  several  hundred  years  the 
family  tree  has  been  most  conspicuous 
since  the  time  of  Gen.  Joseph  Cilley  of 
Revolutionary  fame.  This  patriot 
fought  at  the  battles  of  Lexington, 
Stony  Point,  Monmouth  and  Bemis's 
Heights,  and  with  his  command  was 
present  at  the  capture  of  Burgoyne. 
After  the  close  of  the  Revolution  he 
was  commissioned  major  general.  In 
the  engagement  of  Saratoga  he  ac 
quired  national  fame.  The  enemy  had 
posted  a  piece  of  artillery  in  a  position 
that  was  doing  great  damage  to  his 
regiment.  Becoming  irritated  at  the 
havoc,  Col.  Joseph  called  his  regiment 
around  him  and  boldly  charged  the  po 
sition,  capturing  the  piece.  In  order  to 
encourage  the  men  to  hold  fast  to  their 
prize  the  gallant  colonel  ordered  the 
gun  loaded  and  then  leaping  upon  it 
and  drawing  his  sword  he  shouted: 

"I  now  consecrate  this  gun  to  the 
cause  of  American  liberty!" 

The  effect  was  electrical  and  the 
position  was  held,  while  the  incident 
became  one  of  the  traditions  of  the 
war.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  re- 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


turned  to  his  home  in  Nottingham,  N. 
H.,  where  the  remainder  of  his  life 
was  passed  in  peace  and  quiet. 

Battle  of  Monmouth 

We  present  as  a  matter  of  historic 
interest,  a  letter  written  by  General 
Joseph  Cilley,  who  took  part  in  the 
Revolutionary  battle  of  Monmouth— 
the  famous  battle  at  which  Washington 
swore  roundly  at  Gen.  Lee: 

Camp  4  miles  above  White  Plains, 
New  York,  July  22,  1778. 

Col.  Thomas  Bartlett,  Nottingham, 
New  England,  State  of  New  Hampshire 
—Dear  Colonel:— Your  favor  of  the  lOi.h 
of  July  came  safe  to  hand  by  Major 
Titcomb;  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
its  contents.  I  left  Valley  Forge  the 
18th  of  June  with  the  right  wing  of  the 
armv  under  the  command  of  Gen  Lee, 
in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  who  left  Phila- 
delchia  the  18th.  The  whole  of  the 
army  pursued  with  his  Excellency  Gen 
eral  Washington.  Crossed  the  Dela 
ware  at  a  ferry  called  Cold  Corels, 
when  it  was  thought  best  to  send  over 
several  parties  to  harass  the  enemy's 
rear.  Gen.  Scott  was  sent  first  with 
1600  picked  men  from  the  whole  army 
in  order  to  watch  the  enemy's  motions. 
I  was  ordered  on  this  party.  Soon  it 
was  thought  best  to  give  the  enemy 
battle.  General  Lee  was  sent  on  this 
errand.  He  called  in  General  Scott,  in 
short  he  had  5,000  Continental  troops 
besides  a  number  of  militia.  On  the 
28th  of  June  he  was  ordered  to  attack 
the  enemy  with  his  party,  and  that 
General  Washington  with  the  whole 
army  would  support  him. 

We  were  at  a  small  town,  called  Eng- 
lishtown,  about  four  miles  from  Mon 
mouth  Courthouse,  where  the  enemy 
lay.  We  began  our  march  before  sun 


rise;  proceeded  towards  the  field  of  bat 
tle;  came  to  the  plain — the  enemy  gave 
way,  seeming  to  be  in  great  confusion 
without  making  any  opposition,  except 
some  scattering  musketry  and  a  few 
field-pieces  playing  on  both  sides  at 
long  range — when  to  my  great  surprise 
I  saw  the  right  wing  of  our  party  giv 
ing  away  in  great  confusion.  There 
was  a  morass  in  our  rear.  I  thought 
whether  it  was  not  intended  to  cross 
that  in  order  to  take  better  ground. 
There  was  a  wood  in  the  rear  of  u>»e 
party  I  was  with.  We  were  ordered  to 
cross  and  form  in  that  wood,  where  we 
lay  some  time.  The  enemy  observing 
this,  halted,  came  to  the  ri^ht-about 
and  pursued  us  about  two  miles,  when 
General  Washington  came  up,  ordered 
our  party  to  make  a  stand  to  check  the 
enemy,  while  the  army  could  form, 
which  was  done  immediately.  The  se 
verest  cannonading  ensued  as  ever  was 
in  America.  Our  men  behaved  with 
great  fortitude.  The  cannonading  last 
ed  two  or  three  hours.  I  was  in  the 
front  line  of  our  army  on  the  left 
wing. 

His  excellency  ordered  me  to  take 
the  battalion  I  then  commanded,  con 
sisting  of  350  rank  and  file,  detached 
from  Poor's,  Patterson's,  Larnai'd's 
and  Varnam's  brigades,  with  Li<mt. 
Col.  Dearborn  and  Major  Thayer  who 
were  with  me,  to  go  and  see  what  I 
could  do  with  the  enemy's  right  wing, 
which  was  found  in  an  orchard  in  oui 
front.  I  marched  on  towards  them  un 
til  I  came  within  about  forty  rods, 
when  I  ordered  my  battalion  to  form 
the  line  of  battle,  which  was  done.  The 
enemy  began  a  scattering  fire.  I  or 
dered  my  men  to  advance,  which  thev 
did  in  good  order.  When  the  enemv 
saw  that  we  were  determined  to  push 
close  to  them,  they  gave  way  and  took 
post  in  scouts  of  woods  and  gave  me  a 


GEN.  J.  CILLEY 

Colonel   1st  N.  H.   Line  in  the  Revolu 
tion,  Great-Great-Grandfather 
of  J.  P.  Cilley. 


COL.  JOSEPH  CILLEY 

U.    S.    Senator    and    Officer    in    War  of 

1812,  Uncle  of  J.  P.  Cilley. 


BATTLE  OF  MONiMOUTH 


very  heavy  fire  under  the  cover  of  sev 
eral  pieces  of  artillery.  I  advanced 
within  a  few  rods;  gave  them  a  heavy 
fire  which  put  them  in  confusion.  Th<>y 
ran  off.  I  killed  a  number  on  the  field, 
took  between  twenty  and  thirty  prison 
ers  and  should  have  pursued  further 
but  the  extreme  heat  of  the  weathtr 
was  such  that  several  of  my  men  died 
with  the  heat.  We  took  possession  of 
the  field;  about  300  of  the  enemy  dead, 
with  several  officers,  among  them  was 
Col.  Moncktonwho  commanded  the  first 
battalion  granadiers.  They  retreated 
that  night  about  11  o'clock  in  srreat 
confusion,  leaving  at  the  court  house 
five  wounded  officers  and  about  40  sol 
diers.  We  should  have  pursued,  but 
our  army  was  so  overcome  with  the 
heat  that  the  General  thought  not  ad 
visable  to  pursue. 

Desertions  still  continue  from  the 
enemy.  At  the  least  computation  their 
army  has  weakened  2,500  since  they 
left  Philadedphia.  I  think  Clinton  has 
brought  himself  into  a  fine  hobble.  He 
has  now  a  French  fleet  in  his  front 
and  General  Washington  in  his  rear.  I 
think  we  shall  "Burgoyne"  him  in  a 
few  weeks,  which  God  grant  may  be 
the  case.  Doubtless  the  particulars  of 
the  strength  of  the  French  fleet  will 
come  to  your  hand  long  before  this,  or 
I  would  write  you  some  account  of 
them.  This  may  suffice.  They  are  able 
to  flog  all  the  British  sheep  in  America. 

Mv  love  to  your  wife  and  mother,  I 
am,  sir,  with  respect,  your  friend  and 
humble  servant,  J.  Cillev. 

N.  B. — General  Lee's  behavior  is  now 
on  trial  for  his  conduct.  How  it  will 
turn  is  uncertain.  It  is  my  opinion  that 
if  he  had  behaved  well  we  should  have 
destroyed  the  major  part  of  Clinton's 
army. 


Anti-Slave  Senator. 

Nearly  as  famous  was  his  grandson, 
Col.  Joseph  Cilley,  whose  life  has  well 
been  portraited  by  John  R.  French,  ex- 
sergeant-at-arms  of  the  U.  S.  Senate. 
He  wrote: 

Now  was  the  first  election  of  a  sena 
tor  of  the  United  States  on  the  direct 
anti- slavery  issue. 

Colonel  Joseph  Cilley  was  his  name 
and  title;  a  name  honored  in  all  the 
histoiy  of  New  England;  a  title  won  on 
the  battle-fields  of  his  country.  He 
was  a  Democrat,  but  no  longer  in  party 
affiliation,  for  his  Democracy  knew  no 
color  line,  and  in  principle  was  as  uni 
versal  as  the  human  family.  He  had 
not  the  eloquence  of  Woodbury  and 
Hubbard  and  Pierce,  and  nothing  of 
their  elegance  of  manners,  and,  what 
was  of  vital  importance  in  this  hour, 
nothing  of  their  obsequiousness  of 
spirit. 

The  gallant  General  Cilley,  of  Revo 
lutionary  fame,  was  his  ancestor.  "C?l- 
ley  of  Maine,"  the  noble  young  man 
who  dared  some  utterance  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  hostile  to  slavery, 
whereupon  Henry  Clay  marked  him  as 
"a  dangerous  man  to  have  about  Con 
gress,"  and  so  set  Graves  of  Ken 
tucky  up  to  his  butchering  on  the 
duel  field  of  Bladensburg— he  was  this 
new  senator's  youngest  brother. 

Joseph  Cilley,  at  his  election  to  the 
Senate,  was  an  old  man.  Not  only 
broken  and  shattered  by  the  contests  of 
three-score  years  and  ten,  but  by  the 
strife  of  his  country's  battle-fields,  in 
which  he  had  borne  gallant  part.  He 
was  with  Scott  and  Miller  in  all  the 
bloody  conflicts  of  the  Canadian  border 
in  the  war  of  1812;  and  from  those 
fields  he  had  come  with  but  one  eye 
left,  and  his  body  weighted  with  the 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


leaden  bullets  of  his  country's  enemy. 

Such  was  the  man,  the  half  blind, 
limping  hero  whom  New  Hampshire 
sent  to  the  Senate,  as  the  vanguard  of 
liberty,  on  the  13th  of  June  in  the  year 
1846.  A  new  type  of  a  man  in  that 
body.  Ah!  and  so  different  from  men 
lately  there  from  New  Hampshire.  No 
one  would  lead  him  to  his  seat.  The 
doorkeepers,  usually  so  obsequious, 
turned  their  backs  to  this  man.  But  he 
found  the  vacant  seat  belonging  to 
New  Hampshire,  laid  his  trusty  staff 
across  the  desk,  and  sat  down  with  the 
air  of  rightful  possession.  He  looked 
about  the  hull — scowling  upon  him  from 
all  sides — and  though  he  had  but  one 
eye,  that  blazed  with  such  manly  inde 
pendence  that  no  shrinking  fellow  that 
day  thought  him  blind.  His  voice  was 
not  like  that  of  his  predecessors.  It 
had  not  been  trained  in  the  schools, 
nor  had  it  learned  the  dulcet  tones  of 
suppliant  waiting  in  the  salons  of  the 
rich  and  haughty.  It  had  been  exer 
cised  in  sterner  duties.  At  Lurdy's 
Lane,  at  Chippewa,  and  at  Niagara, 
amid  the  roar  of  cannon  it  shouted  de 
fiance  to  British  soldiery,  and  called 
his  countrymen  to  the  deadly  charge. 
Its  honest  tones,  rough  they  may  have 
been,  were  now  lifted  in  the  nation's 
Senate  for  Liberty,  unconditional  and 
universal,  without  concealment  and 
without  compromise. 

Right  of  Petition. 

He  spoke  for  a  state  which  had  met 
with  a  "new  birth."  He  demanded  the 
right  of  petition,  and  commenced  pre 
senting  them  by  the  thousand,  asking 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  and  in  the  territories. 
Speak  he  would,  and  demanded  the 
freedom  of  speech  for  every  citizen.  He 


planted  himself  on  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  called  the  nation  to 
judgment.  He  stood  there  for  a  fact— 
namely,  the  determination  of  the  peo 
ple  that  slavery  should  go  down. 

He  stood  there  alone,  shattered  and 
broken  in  limb  and  body,  this  old  sol 
dier,  but  his  veins  throbbed  with  rare 
blood;  the  blood  of  one  of  the  most  gal 
lant  families  of  the  state;  blood  which 
baptized  Revolutionary  fields,  and  with 
its  purple  gore  marked  the  front  of 
every  battle  of  the  nation  from  Bunker 
Hill  to  Appomattox.  Of  the  more  than 
three-score  senators  around  the  board 
he  alorfe  stood  for  Liberty. 

But  beneath  that  national  sounding- 
board,  which  Charles  Sumner  in  after 
years  described  as  "the  sounding- 
board  of  the  nation's  pulpit,"  he  knew 
his  voice  would  find  reverberations 
which  would  carry  it  through  the  land, 
and  that  in  good  time  others  would 
come  trooping  to  his  side,  until  the  for 
lorn  hope  he  led  would  become  the  in 
spiring  shout  of  the  mighty  majority. 

Insolence  and  flattery  alike  were 
wasted  upon  this  man.  No  clamor 
could  alarm  him.  Patronage  could  not 
sway  him.  "Social  influence,"  always 
so  abounding  at  Washington,  in  all  its 
riotous  luxury  couldn't  sweep  high 
enough  to  reach  the  serene  atmosphere 
of  this  trusty  soldier. 

The  day  Joseph  Cilley  took  his  seat  in 
the  Senate,  slavery  was  doomed.  Here 
an  old,  crippled  soldier  had  come  to 
ring  its  knell;  and  he  bid  them  listen  to 
the  tolling;  peradventure  through 
counsel  and  legislation  the  Nation  and 
Liberty  might  be  saved,  and  there  re 
main  no  occasion  for  the  arbitrament 
of  war. 

But  the  slaveholder  was  proud.  He 
defied  God  and  sneered  at  his  prophet. 
He  would  not  listen  to  the  warning  un- 


JONATHAN     CILLEY 
Killed  in  a  Duel  by  Grave*  of  Kentucky,  Feb.  24,  1838. 


JONATHAN 


til  it  broke  upon  his  startled  ear  from 
the  brazen  throats  of  a  thousand  can 
non. 

Joseph  Cllley  was  the  first  of  his  par 
ty  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
This  gallant  old  soldier,  limping  from 
battle  wounds,  half  blind  by  the  car 
nage  of  war,  led  the  way  to  the  Senate 
for  that  grand  company  of  statesmen 
who,  hearing  his  bugle  call,  followed 
after,  until  they  were  a  majority  in  the 
highest  forum  of  the  earth,  and  em 
blazoning  upon  the  pages  of  the  world's 
history  its  most  luminous  record,  made 
this  nation  a  republic  of  freedom. 

Jonathan   Cilley. 

The  member  of  this  family  who  pos 
sesses  the  deepest  and  most  melan 
choly  interest  for  the  people  of  Maine 
is  Jonathan  Cilley  who  was  shot  in  a 
duel  with  Congressman  Graves  of  Ken 
tucky  in  1838.  This  gentleman  was 
born  in  Nottingham,  N.  H.,  in  1802,  and 
was  graduated  from  Bowdoin  college  in 
the  celebrated  class  of  1825.  Even  then 
he  was  noted  for  his  brilliant  talents 
and  his  oratorical  powers  marked  him 
for  a  great  career. 

Immediately  after  quitting  college 
young  Cilley  settled  in  the  village  of 
Thomaston  and  began  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  the  late  Senator  Rug- 
gles.  It  was  but  natural  that  amidst 
such  surroundings  he  should  imbibe  a 
love  for  politics,  and  in  a  short  time  ha 
became  thoroughly  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party  and  its  policies.  In 
1829  he  was  admitted  to  the  Lincoln  bar 
and  shortly  afterward  married  Miss 
Debora-h  Prince,  daughter  of  Hon. 
Hezekiah  Prince  of  Thomaston.  He 
then  entered  actively  on  the  practice  of 
his  profession  and  by  his  superb  ability 
soon  gained  a  prominent  position  both 
as:  a  lawyer  and  political  leader. 


In  the  latter  line  Mr.  Cilley  rose  rap 
idly  and  soon  became  a  member  of  the 
legislature.  Here  he  served  for  five 
terms,  part  of  which  time  he  was 
speaker  of  the  house  and  always  its 
leader.  By  that  time  his  reputation 
was  so  firmly  established  that  in  183'6, 
he  received  the  nomination  for  Con 
gress  and  secured  a  triumphant  elec 
tion  in  a  district  which  at  that  time 
was  strongly  Whig  in  its  political  lean 
ings.  The  campaign  waged  had  been  a 
bitter  one  and  the  glory  of  his  triumph 
was  more  marked  from  the  fact  that 
he  was  opposed  by  a  powerful  section 
of  his  own  party.  Scars  were  made 
that  even  time  could  not  heal,  and  in 
one  sense  his  very  victory  carried  with 
it  the  seeds  of  a  fatal  ending.  The 
gloom  of  a  dark  pitfall  lay  across 
his  path,  and  even  the  brilliancy  of  his 
triumph  was  clouded  by  the  prophetic 
presentiment  of  some  untimely  fate.  In 
speaking  of  the  character  and  personal 
peculiarities  of  Mr.  Cilley,  at  that  time 
a  college  classmate,  Nathaniel  Haw 
thorne  wrote  as  follows: 

Hawthorne's  Tribute. 

"In  private  intercourse,  Cilley  pos 
sessed  a  remarkable  fascination.  It 
was  impossible  not  to  regard  him  with 
the  kindliest  feelings,  because  his  com 
panions  were  intuitively  certain  of  a 
like  kindliness  on  his  part.  He  had  a 
power  of  sympathy  which  enabled  him 
to  understand  every  character  and 
hold  communion  with  human  nature  in 
all  its  varieties.  He  never  shrank  from 
the  intercourse  of  man  with  man;  and 
it  was  to  his  freedom  in  this  particular 
that  he  owed  much  of  his  popularity. 
In  a  few  words,  let  us  characterize  him 
at  the  outset  of  life  as  a  young  men  of 
quick  and  powerful  intellect;  endowed 
with  sagacity  and  tact,  yet  frank  and 


10 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


free  in  his  mode  of  action,  ambitious  of 
good  influence,  earnest,  active  and  per 
severing1;  with  an  elasticity  and  cheer 
ful  strength  of  mind  which  made  dif 
ficulties  easy,  and  the  struggles  with 
them  a  pleasure.  Mingled  with  the 
amiable  qualities  which  were  like  sun 
shine  to  his  friends,  there  were  harsher 
and  sterner  traits  which  fitted  him  to 
make  head  against  an  adverse  world, 
but  it  was  only  at  the  moment  of  need 
that  the  iron  framework  of  his  char 
acter  become  perceptible. 

"In  the  summer  of  1837,  a  few  months 
after  his  election  to  Congress,  I  met 
Mr.  Cilley  for  the  first  time  since  early 
youth,  when  he  had  been  to  me  almost 
as  an  elder  brother.  The  few  days 
which  I  spent  in  his  neighborhood  en 
abled  us  to  renew  our  former  intimacy. 
In  his  person  there  was  very  little 
change,  and  even  that  was  for  the  bet 
ter.  He  had  an  impending  brow,  deep- 
set  eyes,  and  a  thin  and  thoughtful 
countenance,  which  in  his  abstracted 
moments  seemed  to  be  almost  stern. 
In  the  intercourse  of  society  it  was 
brightened  with  a  kindly  smile  that 
will  live  in  the  recollection  of  all  who 
knew  him. 

"His  manners  had  not  a  fastidious 
polish,  but  were  characterized  by  the 
simplicity  of  one  who  had  dwelt  remote 
from  cities,  holding  free  companionship 
with  the  yeomen  of  the  land.  I 
thought  him  as  true  a  representative 
of  the  people  as  ever  theory  could  por 
tray;  his  earlier  and  latter  habits  of 
life,  his  feelings,  partialities  and  pre 
judices  were  those  of  the  common  peo 
ple;  the  strong  and  shrewd  sense, 
which  constituted  so  marked  a  feature 
of  his  mind  was  but  a  higher  degree  of 
the  popular  intellect.  He  loved  the  peo 
ple  and  respected  them,  and  was 
prouder  of  nothing  than  of  his  brother 


hood  with  those  who  had  intrusted 
their  public  interests  to  his  care.  His 
continual  struggles  in  the  political 
arena  had  strengthened  his  bones  and 
sinews;  opposition  had  kept  .him  ar 
dent;  while  success  had  cherished  the 
generous  warmth  of  his  nature  and  as 
sisted  the  growth  both  of  his  powers 
and  sympathies.  I  was  aware,  indeed, 
that  his  harsher  traits  had  grown 
apace  with  his  milder  ones — that  he 
possessed  iron  resolution,  indomitable 
perseverence,  and  an  almost  terrible 
energy — but  these  features  had  im 
parted  no  hardness  to  his  character  in 
private  intercourse.  In  the  hour  of 
public  need  these  strong  qualities 
would  have  shown  themselves  the  most 
prominent  ones,  and  would  have  en 
couraged  his  countrymen  to  rally 
around  him  as  one  of  their  natural 
leaders." 

Such  is  the  pen  portrait  of  Jonathan 
Cilley  that  has  been  given  us  by  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  of  his  contemporaries 
and  personal  friends.  The  universal 
verdict  even  of  'his  political  enemies  is 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
sons  of  Maine,  and  had  it  not  been  for 
his  untimely  end  he  would  have  been 
the  worthy  peer  oi  the  ablest  men 
whose  records  adorn  the  history  of  our 
state.  In  the  very  bcginndnig  of  his  na 
tional  fame  he  was  cut  down  by  the 
hand  of  a.  man  who  was  no  better  than 
an  assassin,  and  all  the  proud  hopes  of 
his  brilliant  future  perished.  Brief  al 
though  his  career  may  have  been,  his 
name  is  written  high  in  the  temple  of 
fame  and  will  long  be  treasured  as  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  that  has  added 
glory  to  our  state  and  nation. 

The  following  account  of  the  fatal 
duel  was  written  by  Hon.  Horatio 
King,  late  postmaster  general,  in  his 
valuable  work  "Turning  on  the  Light," 


CILLEY'S   SPEECH 


11 


which  account  has  been  pronounced  by 
ex-Governor  Hugh  J.  Anderson  as  the 
most  complete  ever  written. 

The  Fatal   Duel, 

A  charge  of  corruption  against  a 
Senator  in  Congress,  made  by  "The 
Spy  in  Washington,"  Matthew  L,. 
Davis,  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Courier  and  Enquirer,  was  the  basis  of 
the  trouble  which  led  to  the  fatal  ren 
counter.  He  was  the  intimate  friend 
and  biographer  of  Aaron  Burr,  and 
while  acting  as  correspondent  at  the 
capital,  he  was  excluded,  I  remember, 
from  the  ladies'  gallery  on  account  of 
alleged  gross  immorality  there.  In  a 
letter  to  his  paper  the  charge  referred 
to  was  set  forth  as  follows; 

"The  more  brief  my  statement  the 
better  it  will  be  understood.  It  is  in 
my  power,  if  brought  to  the  bar  of 
either  house,  or  before  a  committee, 
and  process  allowed  me  to  compel  the 
attendance  of  witnesses,  to  prove  by 
the  oath  of  a  respectable  and  unim 
peachable  citizen,  as  well  as  by  written 
documentary  evidence,  that  there  is  at 
least  one  member  of  Congress  who  has 
offered  to  barter  his  services  and  his 
influence  with  a  department  or  depart 
ments  for  a  compensation.  'Why,  sir,' 
said  the  applicant  for  a  contract,  'if 
my  proposition  has  merit,  it  will  be 
received;  if  it  has  not,  I  do  not  expect 
it  will  be  accepted.'  And  what  do  you 
think  was  the  answer  of  the  honorable 
member?  I  will  give  it  to  you  in  ma 
own  emphatic  language:  'Merit?'  said 
he;  'why,  things  do  not  go  here  by 
merit,  but  by  pulling  the  right  strings. 
Make  it  my  interest  and  I  will  pull  the 
strings  for  you.'  " 

The  editor  of  the  Courier  and  En 
quirer,  James  Watson  Webb,  vouched 
for  the  character  and  standing  of  his 


correspondent,  and  called  upon  Con 
gress  promptly  to  initiate  the  investi 
gation  thus  challenged,  both  as  an  act 
of  justice  to  itself  and  the  country. 
Whereupon  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Vir 
ginia,  offered  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  on  the  H2th  of  February,  a  mo 
tion  for  a  committee  of  inquiry,  em 
bodying  in  the  preamble  of  his  resolu 
tion  both  the  above  extract 
and  the  editorial  comments  there 
on.  The  resolution  gave  rise  to 
a  warm  debate,  and  resulted  in 
a  determination  to  bring  Mr.  Davis  be 
fore  the  bar  of  the  House.  He  appear 
ed  accordingly,  and,  having  declared 
that  the  person  alluded  to  in  his  letter 
was  not  a  member  of  the  House,  he 
was  discharged. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  John  Rug- 
gles,  Senator  from  (Thomaston)  Maine, 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  Washington 
Globe,  stating  that  he  had  been  inform 
ed  that  the  charge  referred  to  "was  a 
blow  aimed  at  him."  In  explanation, 
he  said  that  a  Mr.  Jones,  of  New  Jer 
sey,  had  applied  to  him  to  draw  up  a 
specification  and  claim  for  a  patent  for 
a  trunk-lock.  He  had  consented  to  do 
it,  "as  it  was  a  strictly  professional 
matter."  Subsequently  he  had  agreed 
to  take  an  assignment  of  one-fourth 
part  of  the  patent  for  his  services;  the 
papers  were  drawn  and  assented  to  by 
Joneis,  but  never  executed,  nor  had  any 
compensation  ever  been  allowed  for  his 
services. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  at  Mr.  Rug- 
gles's  request,  a  committee  to  investi 
gate  the  charge  against  him  was  ap 
pointed  in  the  Senate,  and  he  was  en 
tirely  exonerated. 

In  the  debate  on  Mr.  Wise's  resolu 
tion,  Mr.  Cilley  said: 

"As  the  course  proposed  to  be  pursu 
ed  on  this  occasion  was  novel  and  ex- 


12 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


traordinary,  'he  hoped  the  House  would 
pause  before  it  embarked  in  this  busi 
ness  on  such  authority  as  was  pro 
duced.  This  charge  comes  from  the 
editor  of  a  newspaper,  and  we  all  know 
that  in  a  country  where  the  press  is 
free,  few  men  can  expect  to  escape 
abuse  and  charges  of  a  similar  descrip 
tion.  Ordinarily,  when  we  are  about 
entering  upon  a  business  of  this  kind 
before  a  magistrate,  a  conservator  of 
the  peace,  the  charges  submitted  are 
obliged  to  be  made  distinctly,  clearly, 
andunderthe  solemnityof  an  oath;  and 
why  should  we  now  depart  from  this 
well-known  and  well-settled  rule?  He 
knew  nothing  of  this  editor,  but  it  was 
the  same  editor  who  had  made  grave 
charges  against  an  institution  of  this 
country  (the  old  United  States  Bank  in 
183(1),  and  afterwards  was  said  to  have 
received  facilities  to  the  amount  of 
fifty-two  thousand  dollars  from  the 
same  institution  and  gave  it  his  hearty 
support;  he  did  not  think  his  charges 
were  entitled  to  much  credit  in  an  Am 
erican  Congress.  If  he  has  charges  to 
make,  let  him  make  them  distinctly 
and  not  vaguely;  let  him  make  them 
under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  and 
then  it  will  be  quite  time  enough  to 
act.  He  trusted  the  House  would  not 
go  into  an  investigation  of  this  kind  on 
a  mere  newspaper  statement  without 
any  proof." 

It  was  the  subject  of  pointed  com 
ment  at  the  time  that,  whereas,  the  re* 
marks  of  Mr.  Cilley  were  published  in 
the  Globe  of  the  12th,  Mr.  Webb  waited 
until  the  21st  of  February  before  de 
manding  an  explanation.  Therefore, 
the  presumption  was,  and  it  was  dis 
tinctly  charged,  that  "the  offence  was 
taken  at  Washington,  the  plot  arranged 
there,  and  Mr.  Webb  sent  for,  after 
full  consultation,  and  notified  that  he 


must  take  offence  at  Mr.  Cilley's  re 
marks.  This  supposition  was  the  more 

readily  credited  not  only  because  the 
same  imputation  against  Mr.  Webb 
had  "been  thousands  of  times  made 
on  innumerable  occasions  in  Congress" 
without  his  ever  resenting  it  in  any 
such  manner,  but  also  from  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Cilley's  ability  and  fearless 
bearing  in  debate  had  aroused  a  deter 
mination  on  the  part  of  certain  South 
ern  gentlemen,  if  possible,  to  intimi 
date  him  and  destroy  his  influence.  As 
an  illustration  of  this  feeling  the  fol 
lowing  extract  from  the  Democratic 
Review  is  in  point.  Referring  to  the 
discussion  upon  Mr.  Wise's  resolution, 
above  mentioned,  the  editor,  J.  L. 
O'Sullivan,  afterwards  United  States 
minister  to  Portugal,  and  who,  I  am 
glad  to  know,  still  survives,  said: 

"An  altercation  of  a  very  acrimoni 
ous  character  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Wise 
arose  upon  this  occasion.  In  reply  to 
Mr.  Cilley,  Mr.  Wise,  among  general 
remarks  upon  the  opposition  of  the 
friends  of  the  administration  to  all  in 
vestigation  without  specific  charges, 
etc.,  remarked,  'Every  man  careful  of 
his  honor,  when  such  charges  as  these 
are  made,  will  not  wait  to  have  them 
specifically  framed,'  and  in  the  present 
instance  he  would  say  to  the  gentle 
man  from  Maine  that  a  member  of  the 
party  (Democratic)  to  which  that  gen 
tleman  belongs  should  be  the  last  man 
to  oppose  the  investigation  of  a  charge 
like  this,  for  it  was  much  more  likely 
to  be  him  that  was  meant  by  the  au 
thor  of  the  charge  than  himself  (Mr. 
W.).  'I,  sir,'  said  Mr.  Wise,  'have  no 
influence  with  the  executive  or  any  of 
its  branches,  to  sell  for  a  price,'  "  etc. 

Afterwards,  in  the  course  of  the  de 
bate,  the  following  altercation  took 
place,  as  we  find  it  reported  in  the  In 
telligencer: 


THE  DEBATE 


13 


"  'But  now,  because  he  (Mr.  C.)  had 
stood  up  to  defend  the  character  of 
the  House  against  that  anonymous 
imputation,  he  was  to  hear  the  basest 
charges  against  himself. 

"  'Mr.  Wise  here  asked  if  the  gentle 
man  from  Maine  meant  to  say  that  he 
(Mr.  W.)  had  made  base  charges  in  re 
lation  to  himself? 

"  'Mr.  Cilley  would  explain.  He  did 
feel  that  it  was  ungenerous  for  that 
gentleman  to  have  said  that  the  pre 
sumption  was  rather  it  was  he  (Mr. 
C.)  than  himself  (Mr.  W.)  to  whom 
this  charge  alluded. 

"  'Mr.  Wise  had  made  no  personal 
charge  against  the  member  from 
Maine,  false  or  true,  none  whatever; 
and  he  again  asked  that  gentleman  if 
he  meant  to  say  that  he  had  insin 
uated  base  charges  against  him. 

"  'Mr.  Cilley  responded  in  substance 
what  he  had  said. 

"  'Mr.  Wise.  Then  the  gentleman 
from  Maine  designs  deliberately  to  in 
sult  me. 

"  'Mr.  Cilley  certainly  did  not;  he 
had  not  made  any  charge  against  the 
gentleman  from  Virginia.  He  knew 
his  rights  and  those  of  his  constituents 
on  that  floor. 

"  'Mr.  Wise  understood,  and  did  not 
understand  the  gentleman  from  Maine 
as  disclaiming  the  charge,  that  he  had 
made  base  charges  against  that  gen 
tleman. 

"  'Mr.  Cilley  said  that  he  had  dis 
tinctly  remarked  that  the  gentleman 
from  Virginia  had  said  he  (Mr,  C  ) 
was  more  obnoxious  to  the  charge  con 
tained  in  the  resolution  before  the 
House  than  he  (Mr.  W.)  was;  and  he 
could  say  no  less  than  he  had  said, 
fearless  of  all  cor>eequences>,  but  he 
had  no  intention  to  insult  any  one.  The 


gentleman  from  Virginia  just  remark 
ed  that  he  had  been  informed  of  the 
name  of  the  member  alluded  to;  why 
not  disclose  it? 

"  'Mr.  Wise  rose  and  said  that  he 
could  never  again  treat  that  gentle 
man  with  confidence  who  could  risa  in 
his  place  and  repeat  to  the  House 
what  a  member  had  said  in  private 
conversation  in  his  seat. 

"  'Mr.  Cilley  had  not  intended  to  vio 
late  confidence.  The  gentleman  from 
Virginia  had  said  openly  in  his  seat 
that  he  knew  the  name  of  the  member 
meant. 

"  'Mr.  Wise.  But  it  was  in  reply  to 
an  express  question  of  another  mem 
ber. 

"  'Some  further  explanation  than 
took  place  between  Mr.  Cilley  and  Mr. 
Wise,'  etc. 

''The  report  of  it  is  here  cut  off.  Mr. 
Cilley  sustained  himself  with  perfect 
firmness  and  dignity  to  the  end,  his 
manner  being,  according  to  our  infor 
mation,  in  highly  advantageous  con 
trast  with  that  of  his  assailant.  The 
latter  concluded  by  the  following  re 
mark,  spoken  so  openly  and  loud  as  to 
be  heard  at  some  distance,  a  remark 
which  Mr.  Cilley  never  affected  10  no 
tice  or  to  hear:  'But  what  is  the  use 
of  bandying  words  with  a  man  who 
won't  hold  himself  personally  account 
able  for  his  words?'  " 

Fully  to  appreciate  this  scene,  one 
needs  to  have  known  its  principal  act 
ors  and  observed  the  calm,  firm,  and 
dignified  manner  of  Cilley,  in  contrast 
with  the  fierce  look  and  aggressive 
bearing  of  his  opponent,  as  the  writer 
more  than  once  saw  him  in  debate  in 
the  House  during  the  winter  of  1S3S- 
39,  while  Graves,  looking  sad  and  de 
sponding,  was  also  still  a  member  of 
that  body. 


14 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


We  will  next  present  the  correspond 
ence,  etc.,  as  it  appeared  in  a  paper 
signed  by  the  seconds  in  the  duel, 
George  W.  Jones,  of  Iowa,  and  Henry 
A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  which  they  pub 
lished  as  their 

"STATEMENT. 

"Washing-ton  City,  D.  C.,  Feb.  26,  1838 
"The  following  is  a  statement  of  the 
facts  of  the  duel  between  the  Honor 
able  William  J.  Graves,  of  Kentucky, 
and  the  Honorable  Jonathan  Cilley,  of 
Maine,  agreed  upon  by  George  W. 
Jones  and  Henry  A.  Wise,  the  seconds 
of  the  parties,  committed  to  writing- 
bet  ween  the  hours  of  10.30  o'clock  a.  m., 
February  26th,  and  12  o'clock  m.  this 
day.  The  seconds  propose,  first,  to 
state  the  correspondence  which  oc 
curred  before  the  challenge  and  which 
was  communicated  through  others  than 
themselves,  neither  second  having 
borne  any  message,  verbal  or  written, 
to  or  from  either  of  the  principals,  un 
til  Mr.  Wise  bore  the  challenge  and 
Mr.  Jones  bore  the  acceptance.  This 
correspondence,  as  it  has  been  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  seconds,  is  as  fol 
lows,  to  wit: 

"Mr.  Graves  to  Mr.  Cilley. 

"House  of  Representatives,  February 
21,  1838.— In  the  interview  which  I  had 
with  you  this  morning-,  when  you  de 
clined  receiving  from  me  the  note  of 
Colonel  J.  W.  Webb,  asking  whether 
you  were  correctly  reported  in  the 
Globe  in  what  you  are  there  represent 
ed  to  have  said  of  him  in  this  House 
upon  the  l'2th  instant,  you  will  please 
say  whether  you  did  not  remark,  in 
substance,  that  in  declining  to  receive 
the  note,  you  hoped  I  would  not  con 
sider  it  in  any  respect  disrespectful  to 
me,  and  that  the  ground  on  which  you 


rested  your  declining  to  receive  the 
note  was  distinctly  this:  That  you 
could  not  consent  to  get  yourself  into 
personal  difficulties  with  conductors  of 
public  journals  for  what  you  might 
think  proper  to  say  in  debate  upon  this 
floor,  in  discharge  of  your  duties  as  a 
representative  of  the  people,  and  that 
you  did  not  rest  your  objection  in  our 
interview  upon  any  personal  objection 
to  Colonel  Webb  as  a  gentleman.  Very 
nespectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

"W.  J.  Graves. 

"Honorable  Jonathan  Cilley. 
"Mr.  Cilley  to  Mr.  Graves. 

"House  of  Representatives,  February 

21,  1838.— The     note     which     you     just 
placed  in  my  hands  has  been  received. 
In  reply  I  have  to  state  that  in     your 
interview  with  me  this  morning-,   when 
you  proposed  to  deliver  a  communica 
tion  from  Colonel  Webb,  of     the     New 
York  Courier  and  Enquirer,   I  declined 
to  receive  it    because     I    chose    to    be 
drawn  into  no  controversy  with  him.  I 
neither  affirmed  nor  denied  anything  in 
regard  to  his  character;   but  when  you 
remarked  that  this  course  on  my  part 
might     place     you     in     an     unpleasant 
situation,  I  stated  to  you,  and  now  re 
peat,  that  I  intended  by  the  refusal  no 
disrespect   to   you.    Very     respectfully, 
your  obedient  servant, 

"Jona.  Cilley. 

"Honorable  W.  J.  Graves. 

"Mr.  Graves  to  Mr.  Cilley. 

"House  of  Representatives,  February 

22,  1838.— Sir,— Your   note   of   yesterday, 
in  reply  to  mine  of  that  date,   is  inex 
plicit,    unsatisfactory,    and   insufficient; 
among  other  things     in    this,     that    in 


LETTERS 


15 


your  declining-  to  receive  Colonel 
Webb's  communication,  it  does  not  dis 
claim  any  exception  to  him  personally 
as  a  gentleman.  I  have  therefore  to  in 
quire  whether  you  declined  to  receive 
his  communication  on  the  ground  of 
any  personal  exception  to  him  as  a 
gentleman  or  a  man  of  honor?  A 
categorical  answer  is  expected.  Very 
respectfully, 

"William  J.  Graves. 

"Honorable  J.  Cilley. 

"Mr.  Cilley  to  Mr.  Graves. 

"House  of  Representatives,  February 
22,  1838.-— Sir,— Your  note  of  this  date 
has  just  been  placed  in  my  hands.  I 
regret  that  mine  of  yesterday  was  not 
satisfactory  to  you,  but  J.  cannot  admit 
the  right  on  your  part  to  propound  the 
question  to  which  you  ask  a  categorical 
answer,  and  therefore  decline  any  fur 
ther  response  to  it.  Very  respect 
fully, 

"Jonathan   Cilley. 

"Honorable  W.  J.  Graves. 

"Here  follows  the  first  paper  borne 
by  Mr.  Wise: 

"As  you  have  declined  accepting  a 
communication  which  I  bore  to  you 
from  Colonel  Webb,  and  as,  by  your 
note  of  yesterday,  you  have  refused  to 
decline  on  grounds  which  would  exon 
erate  me  from  all  responsibility  grow 
ing  out  of  the  affair,  I  am  left  no  other 
alternative  but  to  ask  that  satisfaction 
which  is  recognized  among  gentlemen. 
My  friend,  Honorable  Henry  A.  Wise, 
is  authorized  by  me  to  make  the  ar 
rangements  suitable  for  the  occasion. 
Your  obedient  servant, 

"W.  J.  Graves. 

"Honorable  J.  Cilley. 

"Mr.  Wise  states  that    he    presented 


the  foregoing  challenge  to  Mr.  Cilley  in 
the  parlor  at  Mr.  Birth's  boarding- 
house  a  few  minutes  before  twelve 
o'clock,  on  Friday,  the  twenty-third 
instant. 

"In  addition  to  the  foregoing  corre 
spondence  the  seconds  propose  to  re 
late  only  such  facts  and  circumstances 
as  occurred  within  their  joint  knowl 
edge,  after  their  own  participation  in 
the  melancholy  affair. 

"On  the  evening-  of  the  twenty-third 
instant,  about  the  hour  of  five  o'clock, 
Mr.  Jones,  the  second  of  Mr.  Cilley,  de 
livered  to  Mr.  Graves  in  the  room  of 
Mr.  Wise,  and  in  his  presence,  the  fol 
lowing  note,  which  was  the  first  paper 
borne  by  Mr.  Jones,  to  wit: 

"Washington  City  February  23,  1838.— 
Honorable  W.  J.  Graves:  Your  note  of 
this  morning  ha©  been  received.  My 
friend,  General  Jones,  will  'make  the 
arrangements  suitable  to  the  occasion.' 
Your  obedient  servant, 

"Jona.  Cilley. 

"Immediately  upon  the  preparation 
of  the  acceptance  of  the  challenge,  Mr. 
Graves  retired,  leaving  Mr.  Jones  with 
Mr.  Wise,  who  submitted  to  Mr.  Wise 
the  following  propositions  for  the  ar 
rangement  of  the  meeting,  to  wit: 

"Washington  City,  February  23,  1838. 
— Sir:  Mr.  Cilley  proposes  to  meet  Mr. 
Graves  at  such  place  as  may  be  agreed 
upon  between  us  to-morrow  at  twelve 
o'clock  m.  The  (weapons  to  be  used  on 
the  occasion  shall  be  rifles;  the  parties 
placed  side  to  side  at  eighty  yards  dis 
tance  from  each  other;  to  hold  the 
rifles  horizontally  at  arm's  length 
downward;  the  rifles  to  be  cocked  and 
triggers  set;  the  word  to  be,  'Gentle 
men,  are  you  ready?'  after  which, 
neither  answering  'no,'  the  words  shall 
be  in  regular  succession,  'Fire,  one, 
two,  three,  four.'  Neither  party  shall 


16 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


fire  before  the  word  'fire,'  nor  after  the 
word  'four.'  The  positions  of  the  par 
ties  at  the  ends  of  the  line  to  be  deter 
mined  by  lot.  The  second  of  the  party 
losing1  the  position  shall  have  the  giv 
ing:  of  the  word.  The  dress  to  be  ordi 
nary  winter  clothing  and  subject  to  the 
examination  of  both  parties.  Each 
party  may  have  on  the  'ground,  besides 
his  second,  a  surgeon  and  two  other 
friends.  The  second's,  for  the  execution 
of  their  respective  trusts,  are  allowed 
to  have  a  pair  of  pistols  each  on  the 
ground,  but  no  other  persons  shall 
have  any  weapon.  The  rifles  to  be 
loaded  in  the  presence  of  the  seconds. 
Should  Mr.  Graves  not  be  able  to  pro 
cure  a  rifle  in  the  time  prescribed,  time 
shall  be  allowed  for  that  purpose. 
Your  very  obedient  servant, 

"George  W.  Jones. 

"Honorable  Henry  A.  Wise.      . 

"About  nine  o'clock  p.  m.,  at  Mr. 
Jones'<s  room  at  Dawson's,  Mr.  Wise 
returned  to  him  the  following  answer, 
to  wit: 

"Washington  City,  February  23,  1838. 
—Sir:  The  terms  arranging  the  meet 
ing  between  Mr.  Graves  and  Mr.  Cil- 
ley,  which  you  presented  to  me  this 
evening,  though  unusual  and  objec 
tionable,  are  accepted  with  the  under 
standing  that  the  rifle©  are  to  be  load 
ed  with  a  single  ball,  and  that  neither 
party  is  to  raise  his  weapon  from  the 
downward  horizontal  position  Until  the 
word  'fire.'  I  will  inform  you,  sir,  by 
the  hour  of  eleven  o'clock  a.  m.  to 
morrow  whether  Mr.  Graves  has  been 
able  to  procure  a  rifle,  and,  consequent 
ly,  whether  he  will  require  a  postpone 
ment  of  the  time  of  meeting.  Your 
very  obedient  servant, 

"Henry  A.  Wise. 

"Honorable  George  W.  Jones. 


"About  eight  o'clock  a.  m.  on  the 
twenty-fourth  instant,  Mr.  Jones  left 
at  Mr.  Wise's  room  the  following  note, 
to  wit: 

"Washington  City,  February  24,  1838. 
— Sir:  I  will  receive  at  Dr.  Reilly's,  on 
F  Street,  any  communication  you  may 
see  proper  to  make  me  until  eleven 
o'clock  a.  m.,  to-day.  Respectfully, 
your  obedient  servant, 

"George  W.  Jones. 

"Honorable  H.   A.   Wise. 

"Dr.  Reilly's,  F  Street,  February  24, 
1838,  10  a.  m.— Sir:  I  have  called  at 
this  place  in  conformity  to  your  note 
of  this  morning,  to  inform  you  that  Mr. 
Graves  has  not  as  yet  been  able  to  pro 
cure  a  rifle  and  put  it  in  order,  and 
cannot  be  ready  by  twelve  o'clock  m. 
to-day.  He  is  desirous,  however,  to 
have  the  meeting  to-day,  if  possible, 
and  I  will  inform  you  by  half-past 
twelve  o'clock  m.  to-day  what'  time  he 
will  require  to  procure  and  prepare  a 
weapon.  Very  respectfully,  etc., 

"Henry  A.  Wise. 

"Honorable  George  W.  Jones. 

"Afterwards  Mr.  Jones  left  at  Mr. 
Wise's  room  the  following  note,  to 
wit: 

"Washington,  10.30  a,  m.,  February 
24,  1838.— Sir:  Your  note,  dated  at  ten 
o'clock  to-day,  is  received.  In  reply  I 
have  the  plea-Sure  to  inform  you  that  I 
have  in  my  possession  an  excellent 
rifle,  in  good  order,  which  is  at  the 
service  of  Mr.  Graves.  Very  respect 
fully,  etc., 

"George  W.  Jones. 

"Honorable  H.   A.  Wise. 

"Afterwards  Mr.  Jones  sent  to  Mr. 
Wise's  room  the  following-  note,  to  wit: 


LETTERS 


17 


"Washington,  February  24,  1838,  11  a. 
m. — Sir:  Through  the  politeness  of  my 
friend  Dr.  Duncan,  I  now  tender  to 
you,  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Graves,  the 
rifle  referred  to  in  my  note  of  ten 
o'clock  this  morning.  Respectfully, 
your  obedient  servant, 

"George  W.  Jones. 

"Honorable  H.  A.  Wise. 

"And  with  this  note  a  rifle  and  pow 
der-flask  and  balls  were  left  at  Mr. 
Wise's  room.  After  the  reception  of 
this  note  from  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Wise 
called  on  him  at  Dr.  Reilly's  and  in 
formed  Mr.  Jones  that  Mr.  Graves  had 
procured  a  rifle  other  than  that  left  at 
his  room  by  Dr.  Duncan,  and  would  be 
ready  for  the  meeting  at  three  o'clock 
p.  m.  It  was  then  agreed  that  the 
parties  should  meet  at  the  Anacostia 
bridge,  on  the  road  to  Marlborough, 
Maryland,  between  the  hours  of  half- 
past  one  and  half-past  two  o'clock  p. 
m.,  and  if  either  got  there  first  he 
should  wait  for  the  other,  and  that 
they  would  thence  proceed  out  of  the 
District.  Accordingly  the  parties  met 
at  the  bridge,  Mr.  Cilley  and  his  party 
arriving  there  first,  and  all  proceeded, 
about  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  to  the  place  of 
meeting.  On  arriving  at  the  place,  Mr. 
Jones  and  Mr.  Wise  immediately  pro 
ceeded  to  mark  off  the  ground.  They 
then  decided  the  choice  of  positions. 
Mr.  Wise  won  the  position,  and  con 
sequently  Mr.  Jones  had  the  giving  of 
the  word.  At  the  time  Mr.  Jones  was 
informed  by  Mr.  Wise  that  two  gentle 
men  (Mr.  Calhoun,  of  Kentucky,  and 
Mr.  Hawes,  of  Kentucky)  were  at 
some  distance  off,  spectators,  but  they 
should  not  approach  upon  the  ground. 
Mr.  Jones  replied  that  he  objected  to 
their  coming  on  the  ground,  as  it  was 
against  the  articles  of  the  meeting,  but 
he  entertained  for  them  the  highest  re 


spect.  Mr.  Wise  informed  Mr.  Jones 
that,  contrary  to  the  terms,  he  had 
brought  on  the  ground  two  rifles;  that 
if  he  (Mr.  Jones)  required  him  to  do 
so,  he  would  immediately  send  one  of 
them  away.  Upon  Mr.  Jones  finding 
that  the  rifle  was  unloaded,  he  con 
sented  that  it  should  remain  in  one  of 
the  carriages.  There  were,  it  is  proper 
to  remark,  several  persons  on  the 
ground  (besides  the  hack-drivers  and 
the  two  gentlemen  at  a  distance  be 
fore  mentioned)  who  were  there  with 
out  the  authority  or  consent  of  either 
party  or  their  friends,  as  far  as  is 
known  either  to  Mr.  Jones  or  Mr.  Wise, 
and  one  of  these  persons  was  supposed 
to  be  the  owner  of  the  field.  Shortly 
after  the  hour  of  three  p.  m.  the  rifles 
were  loaded  in  the  presence  of  the  sec 
onds;  the  parties  were  called  together; 
they  were  fully  instructed  by  Mr. 
Jones  as  to  their  positions,  and  the 
words  were  twice  repeated  to  them  as 
they  would  be  and  as  they  were  de 
livered  to  them  in  the  exchange  of 
shots.  After  they  were  ordered  to  their 
respective  positions,  the  seconds  as 
sumed  their  places,  and  the  friends  ac 
companying  the  seconds  were  disposed 
along  the  line  of  fire  to  observe  that 
each  obeyed  the  terms  of  meeting.  Mr. 
Jones  gave  the  word  distinctly,  audi 
bly,  and  in  regular  succession,  and  the 
parties  exchanged  shots  without  vio 
lating  in  the  least  a  single  instruction. 
They  both  missed.  After  which  Mr. 
Wise  called  upon  the  friends  generally 
to  assemble  and  hear  what  was  to  be 
said.  Upon  the  assembling  of  the 
friend®,  Mr.  Jones  inquired  of  Mr. 
Wise  whether  his  friend  (Mr.  Graves) 
wag  satisfied.  Mr.  Wise  immediately 
said  in  substance,  'Mr.  Jones,  these 
gentlemen  have  come  here  without 
animosity  towards  each  other;  they 
are  fighting  merely  upon  a  point  of 


18 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


honor;  cannot  Mr.  Cilley  assign  some 
reason  for  not  receiving  at  Mr. 
Graves's  hands  Colonel  "Webb's  com 
munication,  or  make  some  disclaimer 
which  will  relieve  Mr.  Graves  from  his 
position?'  Mr.  Jones  replied,  in  sub 
stance,  'Whilst  the  challenge  is  im 
pending,  Mr.  Cilley  can  make  no  ex 
planation.'  Mr.  Wise  said,  in  sub 
stance,  'The  exchange  of  shots  sus 
pends  the  challenge,  and  the  challenge 
is  suspended  for  the  purpose  of  ex 
planation.'  Mr.  Jones  therefore  said 
he  would  see  Mr.  Cilley,  and  did  go  to 
him.  He  returned  and  asked  Mr.  Wise 
again,  'Mr.  Wise,  do  I  understand 
aright  that  the  challenge  is  suspend 
ed?'  Mr.  Wise  answered,  'It  is.'  Mr. 
Jones  was  then  about  to  proceed,  when 
Mr.  Wise  suggested  that  it  was  best, 
perhaps,  to  give  the  explanation  or 
reason  in  writing.  Mr.  Jones  then 
said,  in  substance,  'Mr.  Wise,  if  you 
require  me  to  put  what  I  have  to  say 
in  writing,  I  shall  require  you  to  put 
what  you  have  said  and  may  say  in 
writing.'  Mr.  Wise  replied,  'Well,  let 
us  hear  the  explanation  beforehand,  as 
it  may  not  be  necessary  to  put  it  in 
writing.'  Mr.  Jones  then  proceeded,  as 
he  now  thinks,  substantially  to  say,  'I 
am  authorized  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Cil 
ley,  to  say  that,  in  declining  to  receive 
the  note  from  Mr.  Graves,  purporting 
to  be  from  Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no 
disrespect  to  Mr.  Graves,  because  he 
entertained  for  him  then,  as  he  now 
does,  the  most  kind  feeling's;  but  that 
he  declined  to  receive  the  note  because 
he  chose  not  to  be  drawn  into  contro 
versy  with  Colonel  Webb.'  Mr.  Wise 
thinks  this  answer  of  Mr.  Jones's  was, 
in  substance,  as  follows:  'I  am  author 
ized  by  my  friends,  Mr.  Cilley,  to  say 
that,  in  declining  to  receive  the  note 
from  Mr.  Graves  purporting  to  be  from 
Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no  disrespect 


to  Mr.  Graves,  because  he  entertained 
for  him  then,  as  he  does  now,  the  high 
est  respect  and  most  kind  feelings,  but 
my  friend  refuses  to  disclaim  disre 
spect  for  Colonel  Webb,  because  he 
does  not  choose  to  be  drawn  into  an 
expression  of  opinion  as  to  him.'  Such 
is  the  substantial  difference  between 
the  two  seconds  as  to  the  answer  of 
Mr.  Jones.  The  friends  on  each  side, 
with  the  seconds,  then  retired  from 
each  other  to  consult  upon  this  expla 
nation.  After  consultation,  Mr.  Wise 
returned  to  Mr.  Jones  and  said, 
'Mr.  Jones,  this  answer  leaves  Mr. 
Graves  precisely  in  the  position  in 
which  he  stood  when  the  challenge 
was  sent.'  Much  conversation  then 
ensued  between  the  seconds  and  their 
friends,  but,  no  nearer  approach  to 
reconciliation  being  made,  the  chal 
lenge  was  renewed  and  another  shot 
was  exchanged  in  a  manner  perfectly 
fair  and  honorable  to  all  parties. 
After  this  the  seconds  and  their 
friends  again  assembled  and  the  chal 
lenge  was  again  withdrawn  and  very 
similar  conversations  to  that  after  the 
first  exchange  of  shots  again  ensued. 
Mr.  Jones  then  remarked,  'Mr.  Wise, 
my  friend,  in  coming  to  the  ground 
and  exchanging  shots  with  Mr.  Graves, 
ha®  shown  to  the  world  that  in  de 
clining  to  receive  the  note  of  Colonel 
Webb  he  did  not  do  .so  because  he 
dreaded  a  controversy.  He  has  shown 
himself  a  brave  man,  and  disposed  to 
render  satisfaction  to  Mr.  Graves.  I 
do  think  he  hais  done  so,  and  that  the 
matter  should  end  here.'  To  this  Mr. 
Wise  replied,  in  substance,  'Mr.  Jones, 
Mr.  Cilley  has  already  expressed  his 
respect  for  Mr.  Graves  in  the  written 
correspondence,  and  Mr.  Graves  does 
not  require  of  Mr.  Cilley  a  certificate 
of  character  for  Colonel  Webb;  he  con 
siders  himself  bound  not  only  to  pre- 


LETTERS 


19 


serve  the  respect  due  to  himself,  but  to 
defend  the  honor  of  his  friend,  Colonel 
Webb.'  These  words  of  Mr.  Wise  Mr. 
Jones  recollects,  and  Mr.  Wise  thinks 
he  added  the  words,  'Mr.  Graves  only 
insists  that  he  has  not  borne  the  note 
of  a  man  who  is  not  a  man  of  honor 
and  not  a  gentleman.'  After  much 
more  conversation  and  ineffectual  at 
tempts  to  adjust  the  matter,  the  chal 
lenge  was  again  renewed,  and,  whilst 
the  friends  were  again  loading  the 
rifles  for  the  third  exchange  of  shots, 
Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Wise  walked  apart, 
and  each  proposed  to  the  other  anx 
iously  to  settle  the  affair.  Mr.  Wise 
asked  Mr.  Jones  'if  Mr.  Cilley  could  not 
assign  the  reason  for  declining  to  re 
ceive  the  note  of  Colonel  Webb,  that  he 
did  not  hold  himself  accountable  to 
Colonel  Webb  for  words  spoken  in  de 
bate?'  Mr.  Jones  replied,  that  'Mr. 
Cilley  would  not  assign  that  reason, 
because  he  did  not  wish  to  be  under 
stood  as  expressing  the  opinion  wheth 
er  he  was  or  was  not  accountable  for 
word©  spoken  in  debate.'  Mr.  Wise 
then,  according  to  recollection,  asked 
Mr.  Jones  whether  Mr.  Cilley  would 
not  say  that  'in  declining  to  receive  the 
note  of  Colonel  Webb  he  meant  no  dis 
respect  to  Mr.  Graves,  directly  or  indi 
rectly?'  To  which  Mr.  Jones  replied 
affirmatively,  adding,  'Mr.  Cilley  enter 
tains  the  highest  respect  for  Mr. 
Graves,  but  declines'  to  receive  the 
note  because  he  chose  to  be  drawn  into 
no  controversy  with  Colonel  Webb.' 
After  further  explanatory  conversation 
the  parties  then  exchanged  the  third 
shot,  fairly  and  honorably  as  in  every 
instance.  Immediately  previous  to  the 
last  exchange  of  shots  Mr.  Wise  said 
to  Mr.  Jones,  'If  this  matter  is  not  ter 
minated  this  shot,  and  is  not  settled,  I 
will  propose  to  shorten  the  distance.' 
To  which  Mr.  Jones  replied,  'After  this 


shot,  if  without  effect,  I  will  entertain 
the  proposition.' 

"After  Mr.  Cilley  fell,  Mr.  Wise,  for 
Mr.  Graves,  expressed  a  desire  to  Mr. 
Jones  to  see  Mr.  Cilley.  Mr.  Jones  re 
plied  to  Mr.  Wise,  'My  friend  is  dead,' 
and  went  on  to  Mr.  Graves  and  told 
him  that  there  was  no  objection  to  his 
request  to  see  Mr.  Cilley.  When  Mr. 
Jones  approached  Mr.  Graves  and  in 
formed  him  that  his  request  should  be 
granted,  Mr.  Graves  inquired,  'How  is 
he  ?'  The  reply  was,  'My  friend  is  dead, 
sir.'  Mr.  Graves  then  went  to  his  car 
riage.  Mr.  Wise  inquired  of  Mr.  Jones 
before  leaving  the  ground  whether  he 
could  render  any  service,  and  tendered 
all  the  aid  in  his  power.  Mr.  Wise  and 
Mr.  Jones  concur  that  there  were  three 
shots  exchanged. 

"Such  is  the  naked  statement  of  all 
the  material  facts  and  circumstances 
attending  this  unfortunate  affair  of 
honor,  which  we  make  in  justice  to  our 
friends,  to  ourselves,  and  to  all  con 
cerned,  the  living  and  the  dead;  and  it 
is  made  only  for  the  purpose  of  allay 
ing  excitement  in  the  public  mind,  and 
to  prevent  any  arid  all  further  contro 
versy  upon  the  subject,  which  already 
its  full  enough  of  woe.  We  have  fully 
and  substantially  stated  wherein  we 
agree  and  disagree.  We  cordially  agree, 
at  all  events,  in  bearing  unqualified 
testimony  to  the  fair  and  honorable 
manner  in  which  the  duel  was  con 
ducted.  We  endeavored  to  discharge 
our  duties  according  to  that  code  under 
which  the  parties  met,  regulated  by 
magnanimous  principles  and  the  laws 
of  humanity.  Neither  of  us  has  taken 
the  least  exception  to  the  course  of  the 
other;  and  we  sincerely  hope  that  here 
all  controversy  whatever  may  cease. 
We  especially  desire  our  respective 
friends  to  make  no  publication  on  the 
subject.  None  can  regret  the  termina- 


20 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


tion  of  the  affair  more  than  ourselves, 
and  we  hope  again  that  the  last  of  it 
will  be  the  signatures  of  our  names  to 
this  paper,  which  we  now  affix. 

"George  W.  Jones. 

"Henry  A.  "Wise." 

Vain  hope!  Instead  of  this  being 
"the  last  of  the  affair,"  the  supposed 
instigators  of  it  were  met  on  all  sides 
with  a  perfect  storm  of  indignation, 
and  an  almost  universal  demand  for  a 
searching  investigation  of  the  matter 
and  punishment  of  the  guilty;  and  the 
more  the  circumstances  of  the  tragedy 
became  known  the  fiercer  the  cry  for 
retribution.  Before  proceeding,  how 
ever,  to  depict  this  feeling,  I  will  intro 
duce  the  sworn  statement  of  William 
H.  Morrell  and  Daniel  Jackson,  two 
chosen  friends  of  Colonel  Webb,  who, 
according  to  their  testimony,  "said  that 
it  waJs  utterly  impossible  that  a  meet 
ing  could  be  permitted  to  take  place 
between  Messrs.  Graves  and  Cilley  un 
til  Mr.  Cilley  had  first  met  him  (Webb), 
and  that  he  was  determined  to  force 
such  a  meeting  upon  Mr.  Cilley,  be  the 
consequences  what  they  might."  It  was 
accordingly  agreed  that  Col.  Webb, 
with  two  friends  "properly  armed, 
should  repair  to  Mr.  Cilley's  room, 
when  Mr.  Webb  should  offer  to 
Mr.  Cilley  the  choice  of  his  duelling 
pistols  with,  the  following  alter 
natives:  either  then  and  there  to  set 
tle  the  question  or  pledge  hiis  word  of 
honor  that  he  would  give  Colonel  Webb 
a  meeting  before  Mr.  Graves  at  such 
a  place  and  time  and  with  such  weap 
ons  as  Mr.  Cilley  might  appoint;  and 
in  the  event  of  doing  neither,  then  to 
expect  the  most  serious  consequences 
on  the  spot.  Mr.  Webb  then  added: 
"Should  he  refuse  either  to  fight  me  at 
the  time,  or  give  the  pledge  required,  I 
shall  have  no  alternative  left  but  to 


shatter  his  right  arm  and  thereby  pre 
vent  his  meeting  my  friend."  Before 
this  plan  could  be  carried  out,  it  was 
found  that  Mr.  Cilley  had  left  his  lodg 
ings  for  the  duelling  ground,  under 
stood  to  be  Bladensburg,  to  which 
place  Colonel  Webb  and  his  two  friends 
immediately  repaired.  On  their  way, 
Colonel  Webb  designated  the  following 
order  of  proceedings: 

"  'On  reaching  the  parties,'  said  he, 
'I'll  approach  Mr.  Cilley  and  tell  him 
this  is  my  quarrel  and  he  must  fight 
me,  and  that,  if  he  aims  his  rifle  at  my 
friend,  I'll  shoot  him  on  the  spot.  We 
know  that,  upon  this,  Messrs.  Graves 
and  Wise  will  interfere,  and  that  we 
will  be  ordered  off  the  ground;  but  I 
shall  tell  them  that  we  have  come 
prepared  to  lose  our  lives  or  prevent 
the  meeting,  and  that  it  cannot  proceed 
without  first  disposing  of  us.  From 
our  knowledge  of  the  parties,  it  is  prob 
able  that  some  one  of  them  will  then 
raise  his  weapon  at  me,  when  I  shall 
instantly  shoot  Cilley,  and  we  must 
proceed  to  defend  ourselves  in  the  best 
way  we  can.'  " 

After  stating  that  they  drove  to  the 
usual  duelling  ground  and  several  other 
places  without  being  able  to  find  the 
parties,  the  witnesses  say:  "It  is  un 
necessary  to  add  what  would  have  been 
the  course  of  Colonel  Webb  if  Mr. 
Graves,  instead  of  Mr.  Cilley,  had  been 
injured.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  his  de 
termination  was  sanctioned  by  us,  and, 
however  much  we  deplore  it,  we  could 
not  doubt  but  the  extraordinary  posi 
tion  in  which  he  would  then  have  been 
placed  would  have  warranted  the 
course  determined  upon." 

Alluding  to  the  dark  intimation  in 
the  last  paragraph,  an  able  editor,  at 
the  time  holding  a  high  position  under 
the  United  States  government,  remark 
ed,  '"Thus,  then,  it  seems  if  Cilley  had 


DEATH   OP 


21 


escaped  from  the  field  with  his  life,  he 
would  have  been  doubtless,  assassinat 
ed  by  Webb  and  his  associates." 

Colonel  Schaumbourg,  a  friend  of  Mr. 
Cilley,  states  that  before  the  meeting, 
Mr.  Cilley  said  to  him: 

"Mr.  Graves  has  taken  upon  himself 
to  demand  of  me  to  say,  and  that  in 
language  dictated  by  himself,  that 
James  Watson  Webb  is  a  gentleman 
and  a  man  of  honor.  Now,  that  is  what 
I  am  not  going  to  disgrace  myself  by 
saying.  I  see  into  the  whole  affair. 
Webb  has  come  on  here  to  challenge 
me  'because  he  and  perhaps  others 
think  that,  as  I  am  from  New  Eng 
land,  I  am  to  be  bluffed,  and  Mr.  Webb 
will  proclaim  himself  a  brave  man, 
and  having  obtained  acknowledgment 
on  my  part  that  he  is  a  gentleman  and 
a  man  of  honor.  But  they  have  calcu 
lated  without  their  host.  Although  I 
know  that  the  sentiment  of  New  Eng 
land  is  opposed  to  duelling,  I  am  sure 
that  my  people  will  be  better  pleased  if 
I  stand  the  test  than  disgrace  myself 
by  humiliating  concessions.  Sir,  the 
name  I  bear  will  never  permit  me  to 
cower  beneath  the  frown  of  mortal 
man.  It  is  an  attempt  to  browbeat  u®. 
and  they  think  that  because  I  am  from 
the  East,  I  will  tamely  submit." 

Besides  the  two  seconds,  the  friends 
of  each  party  on  the  ground  were,  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Cilley,  Jesse  A.  Bynum, 
member  of  Congress  from  North  Caro 
lina,  Colonel  W.  Schaumbourg,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Alexander  Duncan 
(surgeon,)  member  of  Congress  from 
Ohio;  and,  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Graves, 
John  J.  Crittenden,  Senator,  and  Rich 
ard  H.  Menifee,  member  of  Congress 
from  Kentucky,  and  Dr.  J.  M.  Poltz, 
surgeon,  of  Washington  City.  These 
gentlemen  were  quite  as  free  from  cen 
sure  in  the  affair  as  were  some  others 
not  present.  The  greater  weight  of 


"public  opprobrium  and  disgust"  fell 
upon  Mr.  Wise  and  Colonel  Webb,  as 
will  appear  from  quotations  we  will 
see  from  the  public  records  and  the 
press. 

Mr.  Cilley's  death  was  announced  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  on  the 
26th  of  February  by  the  Hon.  John 
Fairfield,  of  Maine,  and  in  the  Senate, 
the  same  day,  by  the  Hon.  Reuel  Wil 
liams,  of  Maine,  and  appropriate  reso 
lutions  provided  for  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  of  seven  members  to  in 
vestigate  the  causes  which  led  to  Mr. 
Cilley's  death  and  the  circumstances 
connected  therewith;  also  to  inquire 
whether,  in  the  matter,  there  had 
been  any  breach  of  the  privileges  of 
the  House.  The  resolutions,  after  con 
siderable  opposition,  were  passed  by 
yeas  one  hundred  and  fifty-two,  nays 
forty-nine,  and  this  committee  was 
composed  of  the  following  gentlemen: 
Isaac  Toucey,  of  Connecticut,  W.  W. 
Potter,  of  Pennsylvania,  George  Grin- 
nell,  Jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  F.  H.  El- 
more,  of  South  Carolina,  A.  D.  W. 
Bruyn,  of  New  York,  S.  Grantland,  of 
Georgia,  and  J.  Rariden,  of  Indiana. 
The  committee  were  divided  in  opinion 
and  made  three  reports,  Mr.  Toucey, 
afterward  Senator  and  member  of  both 
President  Folk's  and  President  Buch 
anan's  Cabinet,  presenting  that  of  the 
majority.  It  embraces  the  material 
facts  and  circumstances  of  the  duel, and 
among  other  things,  declares  that  "It 
is  a  breach  of  the  highest  constitutional 
privileges  of  the  House, and  of  the  most 
sacred  rights  of  the  people  in  the  per 
son  of  their  representative,  to  demand 
in  a  hostile  manner  an  explanation  of 
words  spoke  in  debate." 

The  committee  submitted  resolutions 
for  the  expulsion  of  William  J.  Graves, 
Henry  A.  Wise,  and  George  W.  Jones. 
Finally,  after  a  long  debate,  the  whole 


22 


THREE 


subject  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote 
of  one  hundred  and  two  to  seventy- 
six,  a  vote  of  censure  merely  being- 
passed. 

Hig-h  as  party  feeling-  was  at  the  time, 
indignation  and  denunciation  were  by 
no  means  confined  to  one  side  in  poli 
tics.  "Never,"  said  Charles  G.  Green, 
editor  of  the  Boston  Post  "was  there  a 
more  dastardly  murder  than  that  of  the 
unfortunate  Cllley.  The  nation  should 
echo  with  indignation  at  this  horrible 
outrage,  this  cold-blooded  assassina 
tion."  Naming-  two  of  the  principal  ac 
tors  (Webb  and  Wise)  in  the  affair,  the 
same  editor  calls  the  one  "the  miser 
able  poltroon,"  and  the  other  "the 
wretch,"  adding,  "both  of  them  are 
equally  a  disgrace  to  human  nature, 
and  will  deceive  the  execration  of  man 
kind;  we  hope  that  the  penitentiary  or 
the  gallows  will  soon  relieve  society  of 
their  baneful  presence."  A  Washing 
ton  correspondent  of  the  Journal  of 
Commerce  is  quoted  as  saying  that, 
"After  Jones  returned  the  last  time, 
from  the  conference,  with  Wife's  reply, 
Mr.  Cilley  said,  in  a  calm  and  collected 
tone,  'They  thirst  for  my  blood!'  "  In 
a  previous  conference,  as  reported  by 
the  seconds,  Mr.  Cilley  said  that  "in 
declining  to  receive  the  note  from 
Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no  disrespect 
to  Mr.  Graves,  because  he  entertained 
for  him  then,  as  he  now  does,  the  high 
est  respect  and  most  kind  feelings." 
"But,"  as  remarked  by  the  Democratic 
Review,  published  by  Lang-tree  and 
O'Sullivan,  at  the  time,  "all  this  was 
without  avail." 

Mr.  Cilley  fought  under  disadvan 
tages  which  (says  the  Journal  of  Com 
merce)  must  have  been  well  known  to 
those  on  the  other  side,  and  which  in 
duced  some  persons  to  say  that  his 
seconds  ought  never  to  have  suffered 
him  to  fight  under  them  at  all.  These 


disadvantage®  were  stated  to  be  that 
Mr.  Cilley,  being-,  as  was  personally 
known  to  the  present  writer,  very  near 
sighted,  could  not  see  to  shoot  at  the 
distance  measured  off,  which  was  al 
leged  to  be  greater  by  twenty  yards 
than  that  agreed  on;  that  his  rifle  was 
so  lig-ht— only  about  one-half  the  cali 
bre  of  that  of  his  antagonist— that  it 
would  not  carry  that  distance  with  ac 
curacy;  that  he  was  shooting-  against 
the  wind,  which  was  blowing  a  gale; 
and  that  he  stood  on  rising-  ground  in 
open  light,  presenting-  a  plain  mark, 
while  his  antagonist  was  shaded  by  a 
copse  of  wood.  Under  all  these  disad 
vantages,  after  disclaiming-  all  enmity 
to  Graves,  and  after  technical  requsi- 
tion  preliminary  to  accommodation  in 
honorable  duelling,  and  even  after  he 
had  declared  that  he  did  not  wish  to 
take  Graves's  life,  but  entertained  for 
him  "the  hig-hest  respect  and  the  most 
kisd  feelings,"  Mr.  Cilley  was  shot 
down!  "What,"  asked  the  Eastern 
Arg-us,  "does  this  prove  but  that  he 
was  foully  murdered?" 

At  a  great  public  meeting,  held  at  the 
capital  of  Maine,  on  the  9th  of  March, 
1S38,  "for  the  purpose  of  noticing  in  a 
suitable  manner  the  atrocious  murder 
of  Hon.  Jonathan  Cilley."  a  series  of 
resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted, 
declaring-,  among-  other  things,  that  the 
duel  was  "the  result  of  a  foul  con 
spiracy,  concerted  and  approved 
among-  a  few  political  leaders,  to  take 
advantage  of  Mr.  Cilley  and  draw  him 
into  a  quarrel,  in  order  that  they 
mig-ht  seize  upon  the  opportunity  af 
forded  to  gratify  personal  feelings  of 
private  malice  and  revenge,  and  re 
move  out  of  the  way  an  opponent 
every  day  becoming  more  and  more 
formidable,  whose  eloquent  appeals 
and  retorted  sarcasms  it  would  be 
more  easy  to  silence  by  the  pistol  than 


COURSE    OF1    HENRY    A.     WISE 


answer  in  debate;  that  in  the  course 
pursued  by  Henry  A.  Wise  in  man 
aging-  and  conducting-  the  incidents  of 
the  duel  after  the  first  fire,  there  is 
evidence  of  deep  and  vindictive  mal 
ignity;  and  that  he  stands  justly 
chargeable  before  the  world,  upon  his 
own  showing,  of  having  violated  every 
recognized  principle  of  chivalry  by 
availing-  himself  of  his  position  and  the 
occasion  to  glut  his  own  feeling's  of 
private  grudge  and  ill-will  against  Mr. 
Cilley  for  a  former  supposed  offense 
given  by  the  deceased,  not  to  his  prin 
cipal,  Graves,  but  to  himself,  Wise,  a 
course  of  conduct  worthy  only  of  a  re 
creant  and  a  dastard;  that  the  studied 
attempt  made  by  Henry  A.  Wise  to 
palliate  and  gloss  over  his  conduct 
during  the  duel,  apparent  in  the  im 
perfect  but  official  account,  so  called, 
of  the  doings,  and  the  special  desire 
expressed  in  the  account,  that  those 
who  witnessed  the  scene  should  make 
no  publication  on  the  subject,  afford 
strong  presumptive  evidence  of  a  con 
sciousness  that  there  were  deeds  of 
darkness  and  treachery  in  the  history 
of  the  conflict  which  would  not  bear  to 
be  told;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
careful  insertion  in  that  account  of  a 
statement  that  Mr.  Wise  inquired  of 
Mr.  Jones,  before  leaving  the  ground, 
'whether  he  could  render  any  service, 
and  tendered  all  the  aid  in  his  power,' 
the  murder  having  been  already  perpe 
trated,  and  the  lifeless  corpse  of  Mr. 
Cilley  then  lying1  stretched  out  before 
him,  is  a  derision  and  a  mockery  upon 
the  better  feelings  of  our  nature, 
worthy  only  of  the  man  who  could 
coolly  triumph  over  the  fallen  victim 
of  his  own  foul  machinations;  and 
that  in  the  transaction  which  termin 
ated  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Cilley,  con 
sidered  under  the  mildest  and  most 
mitigated  features  given  to  it  by  those 


who  took  part  In  it,  there  is  presented 
to  the  people  of  Maine  a  case  of  ruth 
less  assassination — of  preconcerted  and 
cold-blooded  murder  of  one  of  their 
representatives,  for  having  boldly  and 
fearlessly  done  his  duty,  and  being  re 
solved  to  continue  to  do  so." 

The  editor  of  the  Democratic  Review, 
in  a  position  to  obtain  the  most  correct 
information  on  the  subject,  was  very 
severe  in  his  comments  upon  the  whole 
affair,  and  particularly  with  reference 
to  Wise's  course  in  insisting,  after  the 
second  shot,  either  that  Mr.  Cilley 
should  "acknowledge  Webb  to  be  a 
gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor,"  or 
that  "blood  should  flow!" 

"It  is  not  enough  that  he  (Mr.  Cilley) 
has  said  nothing  to  the  disparagement 
of  Mr.  Webb— that  he  is  free  in  expres 
sion  of  the  highest  respect  and  best 
feeling  toward  Graves;  it  is1  not  enough 
that  two  shots  have  been  interchanged 
on  this  flimsy  punctilio  of  honor,  in  the 
language  of  one  of  the  gentlemen  on 
the  field,  in  his  remonstrance,  'based 
on  an  abstraction  and  assumed  upon 
an  implication;'  it  is  not  enough  that 
all  persons  on  the  ground — the  second, 
the  surgeon,  and  consulting  friends  of 
the  challenged  party,  the  surgeon  and 
one  at  least  of  the  friends  of  the  chal 
lenging  side  (Mr.  Crittenden) — are 
unanimous  in  opinion  that  all  has  been 
done  that  the  most  fastidious  honor 
can  require;  it  is  not,  enough  that  he 
(Wise)  has  put  a  distinct  proposition, 
in  decisive  terms,  as  if  an  ultimatum, 
from  an  anxiety  to  bring  an  end  to  the 
combat,  that  acknowledgment  shall  be 
made  that  no  disrespect  was  meant  to 
Mr.  Graves,  directly  or  indirectly,  and 
that  it  was,  in  terms,  answered  affirm 
atively:  nothing  whatever  will  suffice 
but  a  degrading  acknowledgment  con 
trary  to  the  conscience  and  truth  of  the 
party,  and  to  the  well-known  majority 


24 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


of  society,  and  entirely  extraneous  to 
the  relation  between  the  parties  in  the 
field— an  acknowledgment  which  noth 
ing1  but  a  trembling  cowardice,  widely 
unlike  the  brave  bearing  of  poor  Cilley, 
could  yield  under  such  circumstances — 
an  acknowledgment  which  he  knew, 
and  could  not  but  have  known,  could 
not  and  would  not  be  conceded.  No, 
nothing  will  suffice  but  this  abject  and 
impossible  submission — or  blood!  The 
spirit  of  malignant  evil  that  ruled  th° 
ascendant  of  that  dark  hour  triumphed, 
and  the  kind-hearted,  the  generous,  the 
peaceful,  the  manly,  the  noble,  the 
true,  the  brave,  lay  weltering  in  his 
own  blood!" 

The  following,  says  the  editor  of  the 
Review,  are  substantially  the  views  of 
the  matter  which  Mr.  Cilley  expressed 
freely  to  his  friends  on  the  morning  of 
the  fatal  encounter: 

"I  am  driven  to  this  meeting  by  a 
positive  compulsion.  I  have  done  all 
that  an  honorable  man  could  do  to 
avert  it.  Why  should  I  acknowledge 
that  man  to  be  a  gentleman  and  a  man 
of  honor?  In  truth  and  conscience  I 
could  not  do  so,  and  still  less  can  I 
have  it  so  unreasonably  extorted  from 
me  by  force  and  threat.  I  have  no  ill- 
will  nor  disrespect  toward  Mr.  Graves. 
He  knows  it,  and  I  have  repeatedly 
and  fully  expressed  it.  I  abhor  the  idea 
of  taking  his  life,  and  will  do  nothing 
not  forced  upon  me  in  self-defence. 
The  pretext  of  the  challenge  is  absurd. 
I  understand  the  conspiracy  to  destroy 
me  as  a  public  man.  But  New  England 
must  not  be  trampled  on,  my  name 
must  not  be  disgraced,  and  I  go  to  this 
field  sustained  by  as  high  a  motive  of 
patriotism  as  ever  led  my  grandfather 
or  my  brother  to  battle,  as  an  unhappy 
duty,  not  to  be  shrunk  from,  to  my 
honor,  my  principles,  and  my  country." 

On  the  evening1  before  the     duel     he 


charged  one  of  his  lady  friends,  should 
he  not  survive,  to  say  to  his  wife  that 
he  "had  endeavored  to  pursue  that 
course  in  all  things  which  she  would 
approve  and  his  own  conscience  dic 
tated." 

In  a  biographical  sketch  of  Mr. 
Cilley,  published  in  the  Democratic 
Review  for  September,  1838,  Natihaniel 
Hawthorne  says: 

"A  challenge  was  never  given  on  a 
more  shadowy  pretext;  a  duel  was 
never  pressed  to  a  fatal  close  in  the 
face  of  such  open  kindness  as  was  ex 
pressed  by  Mr.  Cilley;  and  the  conclu 
sion  is  inevitable  that  Mr.  Grave®  and 
his  principal  second,  Mr.  Wise,  have 
gone  further  than  their  own  dreadful 
code  will  warrant  them,  and  overstepped 
the  imaginary  distinction  wihich,  on 
their  own  principles-,  separates  man 
slaughter  from  murder." 

Mr.  Wise  was  not  a  man  to  rest  silent 
under  such  opprobrium.  On  the  16th 
of  March,  1838,  he  issued  a  long  ad 
dress  to  his  constituents  in  which  he 
gave  'his  own  account  of  the  duel  so  far 
as  he  himself  was  concerned.  He  be 
gan  by  saying  that  "the  catastrophe 
had  brought  upon  him  much  odium 
and  reproach,"  but  claimed  that  he 
was  bound  to  act  for  Mr.  Graves,  be 
cause,  said'  he: 

"I  felt  obliged  to  do  for  him  what  I 
would  have  called  on  him  to  do  for  me. 
It  is  said  that  I  myself  was  hostile  to 
his  antagonist.  If  so,  I  may  have  been 
incompetent,  but  I  solemnly  deny  that  I 
was  hostile  to  Mr.  Cilley.  There  had 
been  a  slight  misunderstanding  between 
us  in  debate,  which  passed  off  with 
the  moment  and  left  no  trace  of  ani 
mosity  behind.  But  hostile  to  him  or 
not,  and  though  hostility  might,  per 
haps,  have  incited  another  to  take  his 
life— dark  and  deadly  sucih  hate  must 
have  been — yet  my  conduct  proves  that 


CONDUCT  OP  WISE 


I  did  earnestly  endeavor  to  prevent  the 
shedding-  of  blood  by  reconciling-  his 
difference  with  my  friend;  and  the  his 
tory  of  the  tragedy  proves  that  not 
only  I  but  two  other  gentlemen  of 
known  character  arid  standing-,  who 
were  never  accused  of  hostility  to  him, 
and  who  might  have  overruled  me  by 
tlheir  voices  and  influence,  could  not  re 
concile  that  difference  or  prevent  its 
result." 

He  says,  also,  that  he  rebuked  Graves 
for  bearing  the  note  from  Mr.  Webb, 
and  that  toe  told  him  that  Mr.  Cllley's 
reasons,  as  repeated  by  Mr.  Graves, 
for  refusing-  to  receive  the  note  "were 
very  proper,"  and  his  answer,  "cer 
tainly  satisfactory."  Here  is  what  he 
said  Mr.  Graves  represented  Mr.  Cilley 
had  in  substance  verbally  declared: 
That,  "in  declining-  to  receive  the  note 
he  hoped  it  would  not  be  thought  dis 
respectful  to  him  (Mr.  Graves);  that 
he  declined  on  the  ground  that  he  could 
not  consent  to  be  involved  in  personal 
difficulties  with  conductors  of  public 
journals  for  what  he  had  thought 
proper  to  say  in  debate  upon  the  floor, 
and  that  he  did  not  decline  upon  any 
personal  objection  to  Colonel  Webb  as 
a  gentleman."  Mr.  Wise  appears  to 
have  assented  to  the  propriety  of  Mr. 
Graves  requiring-  this  answer  to  be  put 
in  writing-,  and  so  came  the  challeng-e, 
the  terms  of  which  Mr.  Wise  said 
were  reg-arded  as  "barbarous  and  such 
as  might  properly  be  declined;  but  it 
was  thought  they  were  intended  to  in 
timidate;  that  the  distance  was  so 
great  as  in  some  measure  to  mitigate 
t/he  severity  of  the  weapon,  and  there 
fore  I  was  advised  that  they  should  be 
accepted."  It  was  likewise  suggested 
that  the  challenged  party  might  be  the 
first  to  fly  from  these  terms. 

He  speak®  of  his  difficulty  in  procur 
ing  a  suitable  rifle  for  Mr.  Graves,  and 


admits  that  he  had  asked  Mr.  Jones  to 
assist  him  in  that  particular.  At  ttoe 
same  time  he  says,  "I  wished  to  g-ain 
time  not  only  to  procure  a  fit  rifle,  but 
to  afford  an  opportunity,  if  possible,  to 
prevent  the  meeting." 

He  quotes  from  Mr.  Jones's  note  the 
passage  in  which  he  said  to  Mr.  Wise 
that  he  had  the  pleasure  to  inform  him 
that  he  had  an  excellent  rifle  in  good 
order  which  was  at  the  service  of  Mr. 
Graves,  and  remarks  that,  without 
waiting-  for  an  answer,  Mr.  Jones  ten 
dered  to  him  "for  the  use  of  Mr. 
Graves,  the  rifle  referred  to,"  and  its 
appendages.  Thu's,  Mr.  Wise  says,  "A 
weapon,  not  one  of  a  pair,  was  ten 
dered  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Graves  in  a 
manner  that  was  considered  taunting." 
Leaving-  it  be  inferred,  of  course,  that 
one  preferred  to  it  had  been  reserved 
for  Mr.  Cilley.  He  contends,  too,  that 
Mr.  Cilley  "precipitated  the  time  of 
meeting  when  the  second  of  Mr.  Graves 
was  avowing  a  want  of  preparation  and 
a  desire  for  delay." 

He  proceeds  to  say: 

"The  distance  appointed  was  eighty 
yards.  It  is  my  'firm  belief  that  the 
distance  stepped  off  by  Mr.  Jones  and 
myself,  which  we  did  pari  pa-s'su,  was 
nearer  one  hundred  yards  than  eighty. 
The  ground  was  measured  before  the 
choice  of  positions,  and  I  believe  that 
we  both  stepped  with  a  view  of  pre 
venting  the  parties  from  hitting  each 
other.  I  kept  my  eye  on  Mr.  Cilley.  It 
was  my  duty  to  see  he  obeyed  the 
ruleis.  At  the  first  exchange  of  shots  I 
thought  he  fired,  though  perfectly  fair, 
too  hurriedly,  and  his  ball  did  not 
reach  Mr.  Graves,  because  he  did  not 
raise  his  rifle  sufficiently  high.  Mr. 
Graves  fired  after  Mr.  Cilley." 

At  the  second  shot,  he  sayis: 

"Mr.  Graves's  rifle  went  off  quickly, 
and,  as  he  told  me  afterwards,  acci- 


26 


^THREE  GENERATION^. 


dentally,  and  imto  tihe  ground.  Mr.  Cil- 
ley  drew  up  very  deliberately,  aimed,  I 
feared,  a  deadly  shot,  and  fired.  I 
thought  ihe  had  hit  Mr.  Graves.  It  wag 
very  apparent  to  me  that  Mr.  Cilley 
had  shot  at  the  life  of  Mr.  Graves.  If, 
when  Mr.  Graves's  rifle  went  off,  with 
out  harm  to  him,  ihe  had  discharged  his 
in  the  air  or  reserved  his  fire,  the  fight 
would  'have  been  at  an  end." 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Cilley's  friends 
said  that,  even  admitting  that  Mr. 
Wise  was  correct  in  his  assertion  that 
Mr.  Cilley  fired  after  the  discharge  of 
Mr.  Graves's  rifle,  it  was  equally  true, 
according  to  'his  own  statement,  that 
Mr.  Graves,  on  the  first  exchange  of 
shots,  had  done  the  same  thing  toward 
Mr.  Cilley.  It  does  not  appear  how 
Mr.  Wise  could  reconcile  his  allegation 
in  this  regard  with  his  official  state 
ment,  conjointly  with  Mr.  Jones,  that 
the  second  shot  was  exchanged  "in  a 
manner  perfectly  fair  and  honorable  to 
all  parties,"  and  that  they  bore  their 
unqualified  testimony  to  the  fair  and 
honorable  manner  in  which  the  duel 
was  conducted. 

Between  the  second  and  third  shots, 
in  making  the  proposition  he  did,  that 
Cilley  should  say  that  "in  declining  to 
receive  Colonel  Webb's  note,  he  TV-  nt 
no  disrespect  to  Mr.  Graves,  either  di 
rectly  or  indirectly,"  Mr.  Wise  says  he 
went  beyond  'his  instructions;  and  that 
"he  understood  Mr.  Jones  to  say  that 
"Mr.  Cilley  would  not  say  these  words 
alone,  nor  without  adding  words  which 
did  away  the  effect  of  the  word  'indi 
rectly,'  and  which  left  the  parties  ex 
actly  where  they  were  when  they  came 
upon  the  ground."  He  says,  "It  was 
at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Graves  himself 
that  I  remarked  to  Mr.  Jones,  imme 
diately  previous  to  the  last  exchange  of 
shots,  'If  this  matter  is  not  termin 
ated-  this  shot,  and  is  not  settled,  I 


shall  propose  to  shorten  the  distance.'  *' 
Later— February,  1839— Mr.  Wise 
availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  to 
present  his  defence  before  the  House  of 
Representatives.  I  was  there  and 
heard  it.  He  was  wildly  excited  and 
defiant.  Said  he: 

"I  am  ready  to  be  tried.  Put  me  at 
your  bar,  and  I  will  plead  instantly.  I 
am  ready  to  say  on  the  spot,  I  did  on 
that  occasion  just  what  I  will  do  again 
under  similar  circumstances.  Let 
Puritans  shudder  as  they  may,  I  pro 
claim  that  I  belong  to  the  class  of 
Cavaliers,  not  to  the  Roundheads! 
You  shall  not  taunt  me.  What  are  you 
doing?  You  have  passed  a  penitentiary 
act  [the  anti-duelling  law].  You  are 
then  bound  to  take  the  defence  of 
character  into  your  own  hand®,  as  you 
have  taken  arms  from  the  hands  of 
the  cavalier.  Will  you  do  it?  No!  I 
call  upon  you,  I  call  upon  society,  eith 
er  to  defend  me  or  give  me  back  my 
arms.  In  the  face  of  an  approaching 
election,  I  say  to  my  good  constituents. 
...  If  you  are  determined  I  shall 
not  defend  myself  when  assailed,  like 
a  true  knight,  do  not  send  me  to  Con 
gress,  for  I  shall  just  as  surely  fight,  if 
occasion  is  given,  as  you  send  me;  and 
so  I  shall  ever  continue  until  the  holy 
religion  of  the  Cross  takes  possession 
of  my  soul,  which  may  God  grant 
right  early." 

Up  to  this  time,  and  for  nearly  two 
years  afterwards,  Mr.  Wise,  in  public 
estimation,  stood  out  prominently  as 
the  one  individual  altogether  the  most 
deserving  of  censure  in  this  matter.  As 
he  himself  ©aid  in  an  appeal  "to  the 
public,"  in  March,  1842,  "The  whole 
weight  of  an  almost  insupportable 
odium  fell  upon  my  reputation  for  my 
conduct  in  the  affair." 

But  in  the  winter  of  that  year,  or 
earlier,  the  relations  of  some  of  the 


CLAY. 


parties  to  the  transaction  'had  become 
changed.  Mr.  Wise  ,had  espoused  the 
cause  of  President  Tyler,  thus  separ 
ating  himself  from  his  old  friend  Henry 
Clay,  who  was  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  and  to  whose  fortunes 
Messrs.  Graves  and  Webb,  wi:h  the 
Whig  party  generally,  adhered.  It  be 
gan  to  be  whispered  about  that  Mr. 
Clay  had  been  consulted  and  exercised 
a  controlling  influence  in  the  affair  of 
the  duel,  and  a  direct  charge  to  this  ef 
fect  brought  out  Mr.  Graves,  on  a  call 
from  Mr.  Clay,  in  explanation.  I  will 
not  extend  this  narrative  by  going  at 
length  into  the  particulars  of  the  cor 
respondence  which  followed,  and  in 
which  Messrs.  Wise,  Grave®,  Clay, 
Reverdy  Johnson,  and  Charles  King 
took  part.  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  ex 
cept  so  far  as  Wise  was  concerned,  all 
was  said  that  could  be  to  exculpate 
Mr.  Clay,  but,  as  must  be  admitted, 
not  with  entire  success.  It  came  out 
that  he  was  early  consulted  by  all  these 
gentlemen,  and  that  'he  actually  "drew 
the  form  of  challenge  which  was  final 
ly  adopted."  It  was  a  modification  of 
the  form  submitted  to  him  by  Wise  and 
Graves,  and  the  latter  states  that  "it 
was  rather  calculated  to  soften  the 
language  and  not  so  completely  to 
close  the  door  to  an  adjustment  of  the 
difficulty."  Mr.  Wise  says  that  when 
he  and  Mr.  Graves  called  on  Mr.  Clay, 
in  discussing  the  terms  of  the  duel, 
which  he  (Wise)  "protested  against  as 
unusual  and  barbarous,"  Mr.  Clay  re 
marked  that  Mr.  Graves  was  "a  Ken- 
tuckian,  and  that  no  Kentuckian  could 
back  out  from  a  rifle." 

Mr.  Wise  stated  that— "Mr.  Clay's 
friends  particularly  were  very  anxijus, 
for  obvious  reasons,  not  to  involve  his 
name  especially  in  the  affair.  Thus 
many  confidential  facts  remained  un 
known  on  both  sides.  Mr.  Clay  him 


self,  it  is  true,  while  all  his  friends 
were  trembling  lest  the  part  he  took  in 
it  should  be  disclosed,  boldly  came  to 
me  and  said,  'Sir,  it  is  a  nine  days' 
bubble!  If  they  want  to  know  what  I 
did  in  the  matter,  tell  them  to  call  me 
before  them  and  I  will  tell  them.'  This 
excited  my  admiration  at  the  time,  and 
was  effectual  to  prevent  me  from  un 
necessarily  bringing  his  name  before 
the  committee." 

After  all,  I  think  public  sentiment, 
as  at  first  expressed,  was  not  material 
ly  modified  by  these  later  develop 
ments,  and  that  it  remains  unchanged 
as  regards  Wise's  great  culpability, 
notwithstanding  Graves,  in  the  course 
of  their  correspondence,  declared  to 
him,  "I  always  have,  and  now  do,  most 
emphatically  exempt  you  from  all 
blame  or  censure  growing  out  of  your 
connection  with  the  affair.  I,  and  I 
only,  am  justly  responsible  for  what 
ever  was  done  by  myself  or  those  rep 
resenting  me  as  my  friends  on  that  oc 
casion." 

One  of  the  most  stinging  accusations 
against  Mr.  Wise  was  made  by  ex- 
President  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  the  26th 
of  January,  1842,  when  a  resolution,  of 
fered  by  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Virginia  (killed 
by  the  bursting  of  the  "Peacemaker" 
on  the  "Princeton,"  in  February,  1844), 
was  under  discussion,  declaring  that 
Mr.  Adams  had  wstly  incurred  the 
censure  of  the  Houtse  in  presenting  for 
its  consideration  an  abolition  petition 
for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Mr. 
Wise  took  a  leading  part  in  the  discus 
sion,  in  the  course  of  which  the  vener 
able  ex-President  was  led  to  say  that, 
"four  or  five  years  ago,  there  came  to 
the  House  a  man  [Wise]  with  his 
hands  and  face  dripping  with  the  blood 
of  a  murder,  the  blotches  of  which 
were  yet  hanging  upon  him."  This,  in 


THREE 


nearly  the  same  language,  he  twice  re 
peated,  and  at  the  same  time  said:  "I 
never  did  beUeve  but  he  [Wise]  was 
the  guilty  man,  and  that  the  man  who 
pulled  the  trigger  was  but  an  instru 
ment  in  his  hands.  This  was  my  belief 
in  the  beginning." 

Of  the  actors  in  this  deplorable  af 
fair,  the  only  survivor  (December,  1891) 
is  George  W.  Jones,  of  Iowa,  Mr.  Cll- 
ley'ts  second.  Mr.  Graves,  after  long 
and  intense  suffering,  both  mental  and 
physical,  died  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  on  the 
27th  of  September,  1848,  aged  forty- 
three  years. 

The  public  funerals  held  by  Congress, 
and  also  in  Augusta,  Thomaston  and 
other  places  -were  deeply  impressive  in 
their  nature  and  called  out  a  wealth  of 
eulogy,  and  showed  only  too  plainly 
the  great  hold  that  Jonathan  Cilley 
had  upon  the  people  of  t(he  entire 
country. 

"There  is  a  curious  psychological 
fact  connected  with  this  matter,"  says 
Gen.  J.  P.  Cilley.  "Father  was  killed 
on  Saturday,  and  tihe  next  day  being 
Sunday,  my  mother  took  down  a  copy 
of  Watts'  Hymns,  and  began  to  turn 
the  pages.  She  had  not  heard  of  fath 
er's  death,  and  after  turning  a  few 
leaves  she  found  a  hymn  that  impress 
ed  her  so  profoundly  that  she  marked 
the  page,  in  order  to  refer  to  it  again. 
A  short  time  afterward  she  learned 
that  the  hymn  in  question  .was  the  very 
one  sung  at  his  funeral  in  the  halls  of 
Congress.  It  was  the  poem  com 
mencing  with  these  lines:— 

"Far,   far   o'er  hill    and    dale   on    the   winds 

stealing 

List  to  the  tolling  bell,  mournfully  pealing; 
Hark !    hark !    it  seems  to  say, 
As  melts  those  sounds  away, 
So  life's  best  joys  decay 
Whilst  new  their  feeling. 
O'er  a  father's  tomb  see  the  orphan  bending, 
From  the  solemn  churchyard's  gloom  hear  the 

dirge  ascending; 


Hark !    Hark !    it  seems  to  say, 
How  short  ambition's  sway, 
Life's  joys  and  friendship's  ray, 
In  the  dark  grave  ending." 

"In  a  few  months   my  father's  body 
was  brought  home   from   the  Congres 
sional   burying  ground  in  Washington. 
When  the  vessel  reached  Rockland,     a 
company  of  friends  took  the  body  from 
the   boat  and  carried  it  to   Thomaston 
on  their  shoulders,  wihere  elaborate  and 
impressive  services  were  held.       It  al 
most  seems  that  I  have  a  dim  recollec 
tion  of  t!he  event,  although  this  may  be 
my  own  imagination.    Even  the  people 
of  the  South  denounced  father's  death 
as  a  murder.     In  the  Maysville,     Ken 
tucky,   Monitor,  a  poem  was  printed  a 
short  time  after  the  duel,   entitled   "A 
Lament     for     Hon.     Jonathan     Cilley." 
Here  is  the  poem,  but  I  cannot  tell  you 
the  name  of  the  author: — 
"And  thou  art  dead  and  lowly  laid, 
The  f  oeman's  dread,  thy  people's  aid ; 
And  shall  no  requiem  chant  for  thee, 
Son  of  the  bold,  the  brave,  the  free? 
Thus  saith  the  bard,  as  with  trembling  hand, 
He  touched  his  harp  to  a  solemn  sound ; 
Then  softly  rose  a  mournful  strain, 
As  those  who  weep  for  the  early  slain. 
Son  of  the  North — of  a  hero's  line, 
Why  bend  they  o'er  thy  lowly  shrine? 
Why  stand  these  mourners  in  mute  array, 
With  weeds  of  woe  in  sad  display, 
While  many  a  chieftain,  tall  and  true, 
With  tears  thy  early  fall  bedew, 
And  silent  awe  and  gloomy  shades, 
O'er  the  vast  multitude  pervades? 
Why  waits  that  lady,  so  sad  and  lone, 
In  her  bower  afar,  her  loved  one's  return? 
Tne  swell  of  emotion  is  heard  in  her  sighs. 
Ah !  in   vain,  lovely  lady,  shalt  thou  listen  to 

hear 

His  accents  of  kindness  again  fall  on  thine  ear, 
In  the  hall  of  his  fathers  his  footsteps  no  more, 
He  lies  a  pale  corpse  on  a  far  distant  shore. 
Fell  he  in  the  battle  as  his  fathers  had  done? 
Or  fell  he  in  phalanx,  the  gallant  among? 
Ah !    as  for  the  story  too  tragic  to  tell, 
How  the  young  and  the  noble  so  fatally  fell : 
Too  honest  to  falter,  too  proud  to  deny, 
Too  brave  to  act  craven,  or  dastardly  fly, 
His  truth  or  his  valor  he  never  could  yield, 
A  martyr  to  honor— he  sank  in  the  field." 


SONS    OF    JONATHAN    CILL/EY 


29 


Thus  died  the  brave  and  gifted  Jona 
than  Cilley.  To  our  regret  for  the  loss 
of  that  splendid  genius  must  be  added 
another  grief— that  he  threw  away  his 
life  for  so  senseless  a  cause.  True  to 
his  New  England  blood  and  training  he 
was  ever  staunch  and  'steadfast  until 
he  swerved  in  this  final  scene.  If  ho 
had  a  mistaken  sense  of  honor  he  paid 
the  forfeit,  and  we  may  now  well 
spread  garlands  above  his  grave.  Had 
not  the  grim  messenger  cut  short  that 
brilliant  genius  we  know  not  to  what 
splendid  heights  it  might  have  mount 
ed.  In  our  imagination  we  will  no 
longer  dwell  upon  his  grave,  but  pic 
ture  him  as  still  rising  on  triumphant 
wing  above  all  struggles  and  aspira 
tions  that  may  surround  him  on  that 
farther  shore. 

Greenleaf  Cilley,  son  of  Jonathan, 
born  in  Thomaston,  Me.,  Oct.  27th,  1829 
and  died  at  San  Isidro,  Argentina, 
South  America,  Feb.  5,  1899.  He  at 
tended  the  school  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Parkhurst  of  'Stan-dish,  Me.  for  one 
year,  subsequently  the  Bath  High 
school;  was  appointed  as  midshipman 
in  the  U.  S.  Navy,  Feb.  26th,  1841,  and 
was  ordered  to  the  frigate  "Cumber 
land,"  iSept.  1843.  Sickness  prevented  his 
sailing  in  the  vessel,  which  he  subse 
quently  rejoined  by  order  of  the  Navy 
Department  in  Naples,  Italy.  He 
served  in  the  Cumberland  and  sloop  of 
war  "Plymouth"  in  the  Mediterranian 
Squadron  until  Nov.,  1845,  and  in  the 
Plymouth  on  the  Brazil  station  re 
turning  to  New  York  in  October,  1846, 
and  was  ordered  to  .the  Naval  school  at 
Annapolis,  Md.  After  a  month's  so 
journ  there,  he  sought  for  and  obtained 
orders  for  the  seat  of  war  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  in  the  line  of  battleship 
"Ohio,"  84  guns,  was  at  the  Naval  bat 


tery  near  Vera  Cruz  before  and  after 
the  capitulation.  Assisted  the  army 
division  at  the  crossing  of  the  Medelin 
river  on  its  march  to  and  from  Alvara- 
do,  was  in  the  expedition  to  Tuspan, 
Mexico,  and  at  its  capture,  being 
slightly  wounded  while  storming  the 
shore  battery  nearest  the  town.  De 
tached  from  the  Ohio  and  ordered  to 
the  Naval  academy,  reporting  ithere 
Jan.,  1848.  Graduated  as  passed  mid 
shipman  the  following  July,  and  re 
ceived  three  months  leave  of  absence. 
At  its  expiration  joined  the  frigate 
Raritan  and  served  in  it  on  the  Home 
and  Gulf  station  until  detached  in 
April,  1850.  After  three  months  leave, 
ordered  to  the  transport  "Fredonia," 
and  conveyed  from  New  York  to  Beni- 
cia,  Cal.,  a  battalion  of  the  Fourth  In 
fantry.  Made  acting  master  in  Callao, 
Peru,  and  served  as  such  till  joining 
the  frigate  St.  Lawrence  at  Valparaiso, 
Chili,  when  he  was  appointed  acting 
lieutenant  in  March,  1852,  and  finished 
the  cruise  in  this  frigate,  returning  to 
Norfolk,  Va.  in  the  spring  of  1853.  Af 
ter  a  short  leave  was  ordered  to  the 
store  ship  Lexington  and  made  the 
trip  to  Spezzia,  Italy,  returning  to  New 
York  in  Dec.,  1853.  As  soon  as  detach 
ed,  ordered  to  .the  coast  survey  steam 
er  Jefferson  and  left  Philadelphia,  Feb., 
1854  for  San  Francisco,  Cal.  on  the  25th 
May  of  that  year  when  about  120  miles 
from  Penguin  Island,  Patagonia,  and 
the  third  day  of  a  heavy  gale  of  wind, 
the  vessel  broached  to  and  the  masts 
were  cut  away  to  right  her,  fortunately 
the  following  night  the  gale  broke,  and 
the  steamer  the  following  day  reached 
Sea  Bear  bay  and  later  Port  Desire 
river,  Patagonia.  Here  she  was  sur 
veyed  and  condemned  as  unseaworthy. 
The  captain,  officers  and  crew  took 
passage  in  the  French  bark  "Aristide" 


30 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


to  Montevideo,  and  from  there  were 
transferred  to  the  store-ship  Relief  and 
conveyed  to  New  York,  arriving  there 
Nov.  1854.  Shortly  after  was  ordered 
to  the  steamer  "Legare"  and  served  till 
June,  1855,  surveying  the  Florida  reef 
and  bays.  Joined  the  sloop  of  war 
"Saratoga"  in  Aug.  as  acting  master, 
promoted  to  master,  Sept.  14th,  and  to 
lieutenant,  Sept.  15th,  1855.  Served  the 
entire  cruise  in  the  "Saratoga,"  and 
was  in  :the  affair  at  Graytown,  Nicara 
gua,  when  Walker  and  his  filibusters 
were  captured.  After  a  short  leave  of 
absence,  joined  the  coast  steamer  Het- 
zel  and  surveyed  in  the  North  Carolina 
sound  and  Chesapeake  bay  until  Nov., 
1808,  when  was  detached  and  ordered  to 
the  steamer  Metacomet,  fitting  out  for 
the  Paraguay  expedition  at  Pensacola, 
Fla.,  took  passage  to  her  in  the  steam 
er  Arctic,  arrived  in  Montevideo  in  the 
spring  of  1859,  and  shortly  after  was 
ordered  to  the  brig  Dolphin  and  served 
in  her  until  re-ordered  to  the  steamer 
Pulaski  (named  changed  from  Meta 
comet.)  Served  in  this  steamer  as 
watch,  executive  officer,  lieutenant 
commander  and  senior  officer  of  the 
station,  except  an  intermission  of  a  few 
months  in  1861,  when  attached  to  the 
frigate  Congress,  until  she  was  sold  in 
Jan.,  1863.  Promoted  to  lieutenant 
commander,  16th  July,  1862.  Took  pas 
sage  with  'his  wife  and  child  in  the 
bark  John  Wesley  and  arrived  in  New 
York  in  June,  1863.  As  soon  as  his  ac 
counts  were  settled  as  acting  pay 
master,  took  a  trip  to  Niagara  Falls, 
Thousand  Islands,,  Montreal,  Quebec, 
Saguenay,  and  White  Mountains,  "  at 
which  latter  place  he  received  orders  to 
the  gunboat  Unadilla,  South  Atlantic 
Blockading  Squadron,  taking  passage 
from  Boston  to  Charleston,  S.  C.  in  the 
steamer  Cirassian.  After  a  short  time 


in  command  of  the  Unadilla  at  Port 
Royal,  was  ordered  to  command  the 
monitor  Catskill  off  Charleston,  S.  C., 
and  was  engaged  in  blockading  the  in 
ner  'harbor,  and  at  times  cannonading 
For.t  Sumpter.  In  Jan.,  1864  returned 
North,  !his  daughter  having  died  the 
previous  month.  In  March,  ordered  to 
the  steamer  Fort  Jackson  and  served 
in  the  North  Atlantic  Blockading 
Squadron  off  Wilmington,  N.  C.  In  a 
few  months  was  ordered  to  the  line  of 
battle  ship  "New  Hampshire,"  and  took 
her  from  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  to  Port 
Royal,  S.  C.,  returning  in  the  "Ver 
mont."  In  August,  was  ordered  to  the 
"Colorado"  siteam  frigate  as  executive 
officer;  served  in  the  North  Atlantic 
Squadron  until  detached  in  Nov.,  1864. 
Placed  on  the  retired  list  18th  March, 
1865.  Promoted  to  commander  12th 
May  1867.  In  'May,  1866  he  embarked 
with  his  wife  and  son  in  :the  bark 
"Ocean  Pearl"  and  went  to  Montevideo, 
Uruguay,  where  he  engaged  in  raising 
sheep  on  the  Estancia  Esmeralda,  near 
Mercedes.  On  the  breaking  out  of  a 
revolution  removed  with  his  family  to 
Buenos  Ayres  and  resided  in  the  city 
for  a  while,  then  moved  to  San  Isldro, 
where  he  resided  several  years,  a  part 
of  which  itime  he  cruised  about  the  Del 
ta  of  ithe  Parana  in  the  Chalana  Luisa. 
At  the  close  of  the  Paraguayan  war,  he 
navigated  from  Montevideo  to  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  back,  the  siteamer  Villette, 
and  subsequently  commanded  the 
steamer  Anges-tura  from  Ascencion, 
Paraguay,  to  Colonia,  Uruguay.  In 
July,  1874  he  ascended  the  Parana  and 
Paraguay  rivers  to  Corumba,  Brazil, 
and  at  that  place  engaged  and  fitted 
out  a  party  of  five  men,  with  whom,  he 
descended  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Negra,  and  was  four  months  exploring 
the  wilds  of  the  Bahia  Negra.  Return- 


SONS    OF    JONATHAN    CILLEY 


31 


ed  to  Corumba  and  paid  off  his  men, 
and  in  Jan.,  1875,  left  for  Central  Boli 
via,  passing  through  Santiago,  San 
Jose  and  Eguez,  ttowns  of  Chequitos 
and  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  Samapata, 
to  Sucre,  one  of  the  capitals  of  Bolivia. 
For  many  months  he  was  employed 
making-  plans  and  estimates,  and  seek 
ing  from  theBolivian  Congress  the  con 
cession  of  a  railway  from  Bahia  Negra 
to  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra.  Congress 
finally  passed  a  bill  authorizing  the 
supreme  Government  to  make  terms, 
but  before  they  could  be  executed  a 
revolution  occurred  and  nothing  could 
be  done.  He  then  proceeded  on  to  the 
Pacific  ocean  via  Misque,  Cochaibamba, 
Oruro,  Tacna  and  Arica,  w'here  vhe  took 
steamer  to  Valparaiso,  and  from  that 
port  embarked  in  the  P.  M.  S.  "Acon 
cagua"  June  1875. 

For  many  months  engaged  in  bring 
ing  up  the  results  of  his  surveys.  Em 
barking  in  iMarch,  1876  with  his  eldest 
son,  Jonathan  for  the  U.  S.  and  re 
mained  there  eight  years. 

Captain  Cilley  returned  to  Buenos 
Ayres  in  Jan.,  1884  and  resided  in  the 
capital  several  years,  moving  to  the 
town  of  "Nueve  de  Julio"  in  1891,  and 
.La  Plata,  Feb.,  1893.  In  June  the  same 
year  came  with  his  son,  Joseph,  via. 
Southampton  and  London  to  the 
United  States  and  visited  the  Colum 
bian  World's  Fair  Exposition  a;t  Chica 
go,  111.,  and  his  relatives.  Returned  to 
Buenos  Ayres  in  April,  1894.  Mar 
ried  in  Montevideo,  Uruguay,  S.  A., 
13th  May,  1861,  Malvina,  daughter  of 
Gov.  Luis  and  Maria  (Saez)  V'ernet  01 
iBuenos  Ayres,  born  5th  Feb.,  1830,  in 
the  Malvina  Islands,  otherwise  called 
Falkland  Islands.  Gov.  Vernet  was 
born  in  Hamburg,  Ger. ;  lived  eleven 
years  in  Philadelphia  and  from  there 
went  to  South  America  and  married 


and  established  himself  in  business  in 
Buenos  Ayres.  He  was  civil  and  mili 
tary  governor  of  the  Malvina  Islands 
in  18'29-'31,  when  his  colony  was  de 
stroyed  by  Captain  Duncan,  command 
ing  the  U.  S.  sloop  of  war,  Lexington, 
subsequently  the  English  government 
seized  his  possessions  and  have  held 
them  ever  since  by  right  of  force. 
Capt.  Cilley  had  six  children,  three 
boys  and  three  girls. 

The  present  Gen.  Jonathan  Prince 
Cilley  has  well  sustained  tlie  reputation 
of  the  family  line  for  military  valor 
and  intellectual  vigor.  He  was  born  in 
1835  and  graduated  from  Bowdoin  Col 
lege  in  the  'Class  of  1'868.  Two  years 
later  'he  was  admitted  to  the  practice 
of  law  before  the  Knox  county  bar, 
and  at  once  formed  a  partnership  with 
Lysander  Hill  and  opened  an  office  in 
Thomaston. 

The  practice  of  his  profession  was 
followed  but  a  short  time.  The  smoul 
dering  fires  of  rebellion  broke  over  the 
nation  and  Mr.  Cilley  was  one  of  the 
first  men  to  'Spring  to  his  country's 
call.  In  the  early  part  of  18'6rL  he  en 
listed  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  and 
'his  own  name  headed  the  list  of  volun 
teers.  It  was  intended  that  these  men 
should  form  a  light  battery  and  H.  B. 
Humphrey  of  Thomaston,  offering-  to 
give  the  six  guns  required,  provided 
that  the  state  would  complete  the 
equipment  of  the  battery.  The  War 
Department  declined  the  offer  on  the 
ground  that  infantry  only  was  needed 
at  that  time.  When,  however,  it  was 
known  that  cavalry  also  was  to  be 
raised  in  Maine,  Mr.  Cilley  enlisted, 
and  his  name  stands  first  on  the  rolls 
of  the  First  Maine  Cavalry  under  late 
Sept.  3d,  1861.  He  was  subsequently 
made  captain  of  Co.  B,  raised  by  him 


32 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


in  the  counties  of  Knox  and  Waldo,  of 
which  he  remained  in  command  until 
he  was  severely  wounded  in  his  right 
arm  and  shoulder,  and  taken  prisoner 
at  Middletown,  Va.,  during1  the  retreat 
of  Gen.  Banks  from  the  Shenandoa.h 
Valley,  May  24th,  1862.  A  short  time 
after  this  misfortune,  he  received  the 
commission  of  major,  bearing  date 
April  14tih,  1862. 

After  being  disabled  by  his  wound 
for  several  months,  Major  Cilley  was 
ordered  by  the  War  Department,  April 
1st,  18i63,  to  report  to  Gen.  John  H. 
Martindale,  military  governor  of  Wash 
ington,  for  special  duty,  and  on  the  7th 
was  assigned  to  duty  as  Judge  Advo 
cate  and  Examining  officer  at  the  Cen 
tral  Guard  house.  He  remained  on  this 
duty  until  Aug.  1st,  when,  although 
his  wound  was  still  unhealed,  he  again 
took  the  field  and  remained  with  his 
regiment  until  June  24th,  1864,  wlhen  he 
was  once  more  wounded.  He  again  re 
ported  for  duty  Sept.  24th,  and  took 
command  of  the  regiment,  having  been 
promoted  and .  mustered  Lieut.  Col.,  to 
rank  from  June  6th,  1864.  From  this 
time  until  it  was  finally  discharged  and 
paid  at  Augusta,  Colonel  Cilley  was 
constantly  present  with  and  in  com 
mand  of  his  regiment  and  at  a  later 
date  received  the  brevet  rank  of  briga 
dier  general  for  bravery  at  the  battle 
of  Dinwiddie  Court  House  and  Appo- 
mattox. 

The  'history  of  the  First  Maine  Cav 
alry  is  known  to  all.  It  was  especially 
complimented  by  Gen.  Sheridan  and  is 
authorized  to  bear  the  names  of  three 
more  battles  upon  its  standard  than 
any  other  regiment  of  the  army  of  the 
Potomac.  This  is  the  best  evidence  r»f 
his  efficiency  as  a  military  leader.  In 
his  regiment  Gen.  Cilley  was  the  first 
man  that  enlisted,  the  first  man 
wounded,  and  nearly  the  last  mustered 


out.  He  was  wounded  a  third  time  at 
Dinwiddie  Court  House,  but  kept  with 
his  regiment.  There  are  many  anec 
dotes  of  Gen.  Cilley' s  services.  His  ac 
count  of  the  work  of  his  regiment  the 
nigiht  tefore  and  on  the  morning  of 
Lee's  surrender  is  given  for  its  cl^ar 
presentation  of  its  service  on  that 
eventful  day: 

"The  regiment  moved  rapidly  at 
first,  but  slowly  as  the  hours  of  mid 
night  drew  near  and  the  rebel  pickets 
drew  bead  on  us.  Back  and  still  back 
we  pressed  them  till  our  brigade,  far 
from  all  support  at  the  time,  lay  on 
the  brow  of  Clover  Hill  before  Appo- 
mattox  Court  House,  on  the  road  on 
which  if  he  advanced  at  all,  Lee  must 
come  out  in  the  morning.  The  rebel 
pickets  fired  briskly  at  this  point,  but 
stopped  as  our  advance  halted.  The 
hour  was  1  a.  m.,  April  9.  We  came 
dismounted,  front  into  line,  with  the 
1st  Maine  on  the  left  of  the  road  and 
the  rest  of  the  brigade  on  the  right, 
and  one  regiment  in  reserve.  Behind  a 
slight  barrier  of  rails,  without  blankets, 
in  the  cold  damp  air  of  April,  we  wait 
ed  for  morning  and  Gen.  Lee's  army. 
A  line  of  dismounted  videttes  was 
thrown  out  in  our  front  to  give  warn 
ing  of  approaching  danger.  Knowing 
the  difficulty  of  placing  such  a  line  in 
the  darkness,  I  personally  attended  to 
posting  them,  and  when  done  a  desire 
possessed  me  to  learn  something  of  the 
force  in  front.  I  advanced  in  front  of 
the  line,  and  stooping  to  prevent  my 
body  being  seen  against  the  line  of  the 
horizon,  for  I  knew  now  how  near  the 
rebel  videttes  might  be,  I  crept  for 
ward — well,  as  far  as  I  dared.  I  sat  on 
the  ground  and  listened  to  the  rebel 
teamsters  in  tlhe  valley  below  packing 
their  wagons,  with  oaths  and  impreca 
tions  savoring  of  tired  Ihorses  and 
wearied,  angry  men.  Thought  of  the 


Lazell,   1   yr.,  8.  mos.  Walter,  3  yrs.  Jonathan,  5  yrs. 

GRANDCHILDREN  OF  GEN.  J.  P.  CILLEY 


SONS    OP    JONATHAN    CILLEY 


33 


morning;  of  what  our  small  force  could 
do  to  keep  back  the  retoel  hosts  in 
front,  not  knowing  that  our  infantry 
were  marching  all  that  night  to  take 
post  in  our  rear. 

"Lee'®  forces  tired  and  sleepy  that 
morning,  did  not  wake  early,  and  the 
section  of  artillery  accompanying  us 
moved  to  the  brow  of  the  hill  and 
caused  them  to  open  their  eyes  that 
pleasant  Sunday  morning  by  dropping 
shot  and  shell  into  the  middle  of  their 
camp.  For  an  hour  or  more  after  sun 
rise,  we  watched  a  column  of  their 
cavalry  move  by  our  right,  half  a  mile 
or  so  away.  Ais  far  as  we  were  con 
cerned,  we  could  see  nothing  of  any 
force  prepared  or  placed  to  support  us. 
It  seemed  as  if  we  were  alone  and  the 
army  of  Lee  in  our  front.  When  their 
skirmishers  and  advance  came  in  view, 
never  did  the  enemy  more  sluggishly 
come  forward.  Their  line  extended  be 
yond  ours  by  twice  its  length,  but  our 
carbines  held  them  in  check  till  they 
commenced  to  lap  round  our  brigade  on 
the  right  and  left,  and  sharp  firing  in 
front  told  us  the  heavy  effort  made  to 
clear  this  road  of  its  cavalry  curtain. 
Slowly  they  rolled  us  back.  We  re 
ceived  and  we  inflicted  loss.  In  ten 
short  days,  of  which  this  was  the  end, 
our  regiment  lost  in  killed  and  wound 
ed  of  those  present  for  duty  (seven 
killed  or  mortally  wounded  on  this  day) 
one  third  its  men  and  one-half  its  offi 
cers.  We  were  too  sleepy  to  move  rapidly 
We  were  too  cross  to  be  shoved  by  bullets. 
Back  from  the  wooded  crest  of  Clover 
Hill;  back  over  an  open  field  and  a  lit 
tle  rise;  back  down  a  long  sloping  in 


cline — straightening  our  line  at  its  foot 
toy  the  aid  of  a  rail  fence,  and  with  our 
men  in  hand,— we  charged  up  the  in 
cline  or  hill,  to  be  again  ordered  back, 
and  leaving  one  of  our  battery  guns 
stalled  at  its  foot.  Back  up  a  long  rise 
of  ground,  covered  with  woods  at  the 
top — and  the  curtain  of  cavalry  cover 
ing  the  last  scene  or  the  rebellion  was 
rolled  fully  up,  and  before  the 
astonished  vision  of  the  rebel  force 
(Stood  Griffin  .with  the  '5th  and  Ord  with 
the  24th  Corps  and  a  part  of  the  25th 
Corps.  A  colored  division  of  the  latter 
stepped  into  the  place  of  our  regiment. 
All  night  long  had  they  marched,  but 
how  refreshing  the  sight  of  their  black 
countenances  at  this  time.  At  the 
spectacle  the  rebel  host  staggered 
back,  and  their  whole  line  wavered  as 
if  each  particular  man  was  terror 
struck.  The  curtain  fell  on  four  years' 
fighting!" 

Among  the  classmates  of  Gen.  Cilley 
were  Col.  Drew  of  Lewiston,  Gen. 
Frank  Fessenden  of  Portland  and  Hon. 
Edward  B.  Nealley  of  Bangor,  and  Gen. 
Ellis  Spear  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

Gen.  Cilley  is  now  seventy  years  of 
age,  but  excellently  preserved.  He  is 
still  in  the  harness  and  practicing  law 
with  his  wife's  son,  Edward  B.  Bur 
pee,  in  Rockland.  He  has  been  twice 
married,  and  two  children  have  come  to 
bless  his  home.  The  'son,  Jonathan  P., 
Jr.,  is  no'w  deceased,  but  the  daughter, 
Mrs.  Walter  G.  Tibbetts,  now  residing 
in  Alameda,  Cal.,  and  her  bright  and 
handsome  children  have  been  photo 
graphed  for  this  article. 


JONATHAN   LONGFELLOW 


The  Father  of  Sarah,  Wife  of  General 
Joseph  Cilley 


[By    John    Scales,   A.  M.J 


Jonathan  Longfellow  was  born  May 
23,  1714,  at  Hampton  Falls;  he  died  in 
1774  at  Machias,  Me.;  so  he  was  only 
sixty  years  old,  but  during  those  three 
score  years  he  was  one  of  the  busiest 
men  in  New  Hampshire.  His  father, 
Nathan  Longfellow,  was  born  in  1690, 
the  youngest  of  six  children,  being  born 
while  his  father,  Ensign  William  Long 
fellow,  was  away  on  a  military  expedi 
tion,  under  Governor  Phips,  to  capture 
Quebec.  They  did  not  capture  that  city, 
but  instead  lost  some  of  the  fleet  by 
shipwreck  on  Anticosti  Island,  and  also 
several  lives  were  lost,  among  whom 
was  Ensign  Longfellow. 

William  Longfellow  was  born  at 
Horsforth,  Eng.,  in  1651,  so  when  he 
died  in  1690  he  was  not  quite  forty 
years  old.  He  came  to  Newbury,  Mass., 
about  1670,  and  married  Ann  Sewall  in 
1678  and  resided  at  Newbury  the  rest  of 
his  years,  engaged  in  trade,  keeping  a 
store  .at  the  first  falls  of  Parker  river, 
at  the  head  of  tide  water  in  that  town. 
Concerning  his  ancestors  in  England, 
the  Rev.  Robert  Collyer  wrote  an  inter 
esting  article  a  few  years  ago.  Mr. 
Collyer  had  recently  visited  the  poet, 
Henry  Waclsworth  Longfellow,  which 
visit  caused  him  to  write  of  the  Doet's 
early  ancestors  in  England,  who  lived 


in  the  same  section  of  the  country  as 
Collyer's  ancestors.  In  passing  it  may 
be  well  to  state  that  the  great  poet  was 
fifth  in  descent  from  the  immigrant 
William,  through  Stephen  Longfellow, 
the  blacksmith;  Stephen  Longfellow, 
the  schoolmaster;  Stephen  Longfellow, 
the  judge;  and  Stephen  Longfellow,  one 
of  Maine's  great  lawyers.  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow's  grandfather, 
Stephen  the  Judge,  was  cousin  to  Jona 
than  the  Judge,  the  subject  of  this  pa 
per.  William  Longfellow,  the  immi 
grant,  was  son  of  William,  grandson 
of  Edward,  great-grandson  of  Thomas 
and  great-greatgrandson  of  Percival 
Longfellow,  who  was  born  about  A.  D. 
1500.  Rev.  Robert  Collyer,  English  born, 
but  one  of  the  greatest  preachers  Am 
erica  has  had,  often  visited  the  poet 
Longfellow.  After  one  of  these  visits 
he  wrote: 

"One  reason  for  our  meetings  was 
that  we  might  wander  together  in 
thought  through  the  green  lanes,  past 
the  neat  hedgerows  and  over  the  grassy 
meadows  that  were  familiar  to  the  feet 
of  his  ancestors  three  hundred  years 
ago.  I  had  sat  in  the  same  old  church 
es  they  did;  I  had  wondered,  as  they 
had  at  the  old  warrior  in  his  armor  of 
chain  mail;  I  had  stood  at  the  same 


JONATHAN  LONGFELLOW. 


35 


font  at  which  the  child  (William  the 
immigrant)  was  baptized,  from  whom 
our  good  poet  had  sprung;  and  in  the 
old  churchyard  the  dust  of  his  fore 
fathers  lay  side  by  side  with  that  of 
mine. 

"The  old  home  was  Ilkley,  in  York 
shire.  I  have  copies  of  the  old  charters 
and  surveys  of  the  town  that  date  back 
almost  to  the  Conquest,  but  no  Loner- 
fellow  appears  before  1510,  and  then 
vrithin  ten  miles  of  Ilkley.  Those  Long- 
fellows  were  simply  sons  of  the  soil. 
The  first  one  mentioned  was  a  day  la 
borer,  and  he  paid  four  pence  as  his 
share  to  help  Henry  VIII.  fight  against 
Prance.  Later  these  Longfcllows  be 
came  church  wardens  and  overseers  of 
highways,  and  gradually  climbed  to 
higher  places. 

"Those  ancient  Lonerfeliows  were  as 
purely  bits  of  nature  as  the  oaks  in  the 
woods  or  the  heather  on  the  hillside. 
They  had  a  certain  old  Saxon  insistence 
upon  what  they  believed  was  their 
right.  They  believed  that  game  he- 
longed  to  them  as  much  as  the  great 
lords  and  landowners,  hence  the  Long- 
fellows  were  leaders  in  raids  on  grame. 
It  was  the  fight  of  the  Saxon  aeainst 
the  Norman.  Our  Longfellow  is  the 
flower  of  all  the  centuries  of  his  family 
history,  and  he  makes  the  race  immor 
tal." 

Jonathan  Longfellow's  mother  was 
Mary  Green,  daughter  of  Capt.  Jacob 
Green  and  grand-daughter  of  Judge 
Henry  Green,  who  was  the  earliest 
owner  of  the  falls,  at  Hampton  Falls 
river,  where  he  'built  and  the  family  for 
four  generations  owned  a  grist-mill, 
and  a  saw-mill,  where  now  are 
the  mills  owned  by  Mrs.  John 
W.  Dodge.  It  was  in  the  house 
near  these  mills  that  Jonathan  Longfel 
low  was  born.  Henry  Green  held  vari 


ous  offices  in  the  town  and  province, 
being  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Sessions:  Royal  Councellor,  1685-1698, 
and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Com 
mon  Pleas,  1697-1698.  His  son,  Capt. 
Jacob  Green,  was  prominent  in  town 
affairs  and  captain  of  a  military  com- 
nany  from  1699  to  1720,  a  period  when 
the  Indians  and  French  made  the  office 
of  captain  anything  but  a  sinecure  po 
sition. 

Jonathan  Longfellow's  grandmother, 
Ann  Sewall,  was  sister  to  Judge  Samuel 
Sewall  one  of  Massachusetts' 
most  distinguished  jurists  of 
the  Colonial  period.  She  was 
born  while  her  parents  were  on  the 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  it  being 
their  second  passage.  Her  father, 
Henry  Sewall,  Jr.,  and  grandfather, 
Henry  Sewall,  Sr.,  were  the  chief  men 
in  founding  Newbury,  Mass.,  being  very 
wealthy  and  staunch  Puritans.  Ann 
Sewall's  great  grandfather,  Henry  Sew- 
all,  was  mayor  of  Coventry,  Eng.,  1589- 
1606,  being  a  very  wealthy  linen  draper, 
whose  ancestry  is  traced  back  to  before 
the  Conquest,  to  a  Saxon  Thane  who 
spelled  his  name  "Saswald,"  and  owned 
great  possessions  in  lands  and  at  the 
place  of  his  residence  built  and  owned  a 
church.  Mayor  Sewall  died  in  1628. 

Such  were  the  ancestors  of  Jonathan 
Longfellow.  He  was  a  well-born, 
thoroughbred  Englishman.  Being  the 
eldest  of  Nathan  Longfellow's  children, 
he  was  the  pet  of  his  grandfather.Capt. 
Jacob  Green  and  at  an  early  age  was 
instructed  in  the  management  of  the 
grist-mill  and  the  saw-mill,  which  the 
captain  owned  at  the  Falls,  and  his 
education  otherwise  was  carefully  look 
ed  after.  When  Jonathan  was  twelve 
years  old  his  grandfather  died,  leaving 
the  larger  part  of  his  large  property  to 
his  daughter,  Mary  Longfellow.  When 


36 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


Jonathan  was  seventeen  years  old  his 
father  died,  which  entailed  large  busi 
ness  interests  on  the  widow,  but  she 
managed  all  with  skill  and  good  judg 
ment,  'being  assisted  by  her  oldest  son, 
Jonathan.  A  few  months  before  he  was 
eighteen  years  old  he  became  united  in 
marriage  with  Mercy  Clark,  who  was 
of  the  same  age  as  himself.  They  com 
menced  housekeeping  with  his  mother, 
and  he  managed  the  mills  and  the 
farm.  Thus  nearly  ten  years  of  his  life 
was  passed,  busily  and  happily,  and  he 
was  known  as  "Jonathan  Longfellow, 
the  Miller." 

Just  a  few  lines  about  Mercy  Clark, 
his  wife.  She  was  born  in  Nowbury, 
Mass.,  December  26,  1714,  where  she  re 
sided  till  she  married  and  settled  at 
Hampton  Falls.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  Henry  Clark  and  his  wife,  Eliza 
beth  Greenleaf.  Henry  was  the  son  of 
Ensign  Nathaniel  Clark  of  Rowley  and 
Elizabeth  Somerby,  his  wife.  Nathan 
iel  was  naval  officer  at  Newbury  and 
Salem  for  several  years.  He  was  en 
sign  of  the  Rowley  company  of  militia, 
which  went  with  Sir  William  Phips  on 
the  expedition  to  Quebec  in  1690,  the 
same  in  which  Ensign  William  Longfel- 
tow  lost  his  life.  While  at  sea,  before 
reaching  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  Ensign 
Clark  lost  his  life  by  accident. 

Mercy  Clark's  mother,  Elizabeth 
Gre-enleaf  was  a  daughter  of  Capt. 
Stephen  Greenleaf,  Jr.,  and  Elizabeth 
Gerrish,  his  wife;  and  he  was  the  son 
of  Capt.  Stephen  Greenleaf,  S.r.,  and  his 
wife,  Elizabeth  Coffin,  daughter  of 
Judge  Tristram  Coffin  of  Newbury  and 
Nantucket.  Captain  Stephen,  Sr.,  com 
manded  a  company  of  Newbury  men  in 
Sir  William  Phips'  expedition  of  1690, 
already  mentioned.  He  was  shipwrecked 
on  Anticosti  Island,  with  Ensign  Long 
fellow,  but  managed  to  get  home  alive. 


These  Greenleafa  were  distinguished  in 
military  and  civil  affairs  in  the  Massa 
chusetts  Bay  Colony.  John  Greenleaf 
Whittier,  the  poet,  was  a  great-grand 
son  of  Capt.  Stephen  Greenleaf,  Jr. 
Such  were  the  ancestors  of  Mercy 
Clark  Longfellow. 

Mary  Green  Longfellow  died  about 
1741,  and  her  death  made  it  necessary 
to  divide  the  property  which  had  been 
held  nearly  intact  from  the  death  of  her 
father,  Capt.  Jacob  Green,  in  1726.  Soon 
after  the  death  of  his  mother,  Jona 
than  Longfellow's  name  appears  in  the 
records  relating  to  Nottingham,  and  for 
more  than  a  score  of  years  he  resided 
in  that  part  of  the  town  now  Deerfield, 
but  which  was  not  made  a  separate 
town  till  he  had  removed  to  Rye.  He 
was  a  land  speculator  and  was  one  of 
the  active  promoters  in  settling  the 
town  of  Nottingham,  together  with  the 
Bartletts,  the  Cilleys,  the  Batchelders, 
the  Butlers,  the  Marstons  and  other 
noted  families  of  that  town,  in  its  early 
history.  Soon  after  going  there  his 
name  appears  as  an  officer  of  the  mi 
litia,  which  was  required  to  keep  guard 
against  attacks  by  Indians,  and  before 
he  left  the  town  he  had  risen  to  be  cap 
tain.  The  first  thing  he  had  to  do, 
when  he  went  to  Nottingham  to  settle, 
was  to  build  a  garrison,  which  he  lo 
cated  on  a  little  hill  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road  from  the  present  Mars- 
ton  residence,  about  half  a  mile  below 
Deerfield  Parade.  This  location  was 
then  on  the  frontier  of  civilization. 
Between  that  and  Canada  on  the  north 
there  was  not  the  habitation  of  a  whits 
man.  Through  that  vast  wilderness 
the  Indians  and  their  allies, 
the  French,  ruthless  foes  of  the 
English  settlements,  came  and  were 
ever  on  the  watch,  during  that  period, 
to  strike  blows  of  destruction  or  to  in- 


JONATHAN  LONGFELLOW. 


37 


flict  as  much  loss  of  property  as  possi 
ble.  Hence  it  is  plain  to  be  seen  that 
Captain  Long-fellow  and  his  brave  wife 
had  no  easy  task  on  that  frontier 
guard-line.  They  were  young  people 
then,  just  past  thirty  years  of  age,  with 
a  family  of  six  children,  the  eldest  be 
ing  ten  years  old.  Accompanying  this 
article  is  a  picture  of  that  old  garrison, 
which  was  torn  down  only  a  few  years 
ago.  The  garrison  was  the  first  house 
built  in  what  is  now  Deerfield.  The  farm, 
one  of  the  best  in  town  was  first  owned 
by  a  Mr.  Leavitt,  for  about  six  months, 
who  then  sold  it  to  Jonathan  Longfel 
low,  receiving  in  payment  a  certain 
number  of  Negro  slaves.  Where  Long 
fellow  got  the  slaves,  or  how  he  hap 
pened  to  be  dealing  in  such  property 
the  writer  has  not  been  able  to  find 
out;  but  the  probability  is  that  they 
came  from  Africa  on  some  of  those 
Newburyport  or  Salem  ships  which  ex 
ported  New  England  rum  to  the  Dark 
Continent  and  exchanged  it  for  young 
Negroes.  Sometimes  the  ship  masters  car 
ried  their  cargoes  of  black  men  and 
women  to  the  West  Indies  and  ex 
changed  them  for  sugar  and  molasses, 
which  they  brought  home.  At  other 
times  they  brought  them  home  direct 
and  sold  them  in  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire  towns.  From  1740  till 
after  the  close  of  the  Revolution  slaves 
were  owned  in  nearly  all  the  larger 
towns  in  New  Hampshire.  Captain 
Longfellow,  being  an  enterprising  and 
hustling  business  man,  bought  and  sold 
the  slaves.  He  did  not  give  all  he  had 
to  Leavitt,  as  he  had  some  left  after  he 
built  and  dwelt  in  the  garrison.  His 
sons-in-law,  Joseph  Cilley  and  Nathan 
iel  Batchelder,  had  some  of  them  after 
he  had  removed  from  the  town.  Some 
of  the  descendants  of  those  slaves  live 
in  Exeter  now,  worthy  citizens,  un 


mindful  of  their  ancestry. 

The  garrison  house  was  very  long  and 
wide,  but  rather  low  story.  It  had 
three  large  rooms  and  two  smaller  bed 
rooms  on  the  first  floor;  ascent  to  the 
roof  was  made  through  the  immense 
garret  by  ladders,  from  which  observa 
tions  could  be  made  to  all  points  of 
compass,  to  watch  the  approach  of  any 
enemy.  The  garret  was  used  for  a  gen 
eral  storeroom,  and  for  sleeping  apart 
ments  when  the  guests  were  numerous, 
as,  no  doubt,  they  often  times  were.  The 
walls  were  made  of  hewn  timbers,  of 
great  size.  The  rooms,  except  the  kit 
chen,  were  ceiled  at  the  top  and  sides 
with  sheathing,  sawed  from  old  timber 
pines  of  immense  size.  In  the  period  of 
Indian  wars  it.  had  a  stockade  which 
enclosed  a  large  yard;  these  timbers 
standing  on  end  reached  above  the 
eaves  of  the  house,  so  nothing  of  the 
outer  world  could  be  seen.  There  was 
a  large  gate  to  the  stockade  for  ad 
mittance  to  the  yard.  When  this  was 
closed  it  was  fastened  on  the  inside 
with  a  strong  bar,  so  everything  was 
safe  when  that  was  closed.  This  yard 
would  enclose  teams,  if  necessary;  it 
had  sheltered  many  a  family  in  time  of 
danger  from  the  Indians.  At  one  time 
a  family  living  in  the  vicinity  of  Rand's 
Corner,  by  the  name  of  Batchelder,  was 
forced  to  fiee  to  this  garrison.  The 
family  consisted  of  a  husband,  wife  and 
two  children.  One  bright  moonlight 
night,  while  the  husband  and  children 
slept,  the  wife  sat  by  the  fire  knitting; 
she  heard  a  noise  in  front  of  the  house, 
which  sounded  suspicious.  She  hastily 
covered  the  fire  with  ashes,  blew  out 
the  candle  and  awakened  her  husfoand 
with  the  least  possible  noise.  In  a  few 
moments  a  noise  at  the  front  door  in 
dicated  plainly  that  the  Indians  were 
about  the  house.  Knowing  that  it 


38 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


would  be  folly  to  attempt  to  defend 
their  home,  they  wrapped  the  younger 
child  in  blankets  and  took  the  older  by 
the  hands  and,  seizing  the  trusty  gun, 
they  quietly  made  their  escape  through 
the  back  door  to  the  forest  near  at 
hand,  and  hastened  to  the  Longfellow 
garrison.  They  succeeded  in  getting  in 
side  of  that  big  gate  and  barred  it  se 
curely,  though  the  wife  was  nearly  ex 
hausted.  Their  house  was  burned  by 
the  Indians,  but  they  found  a  safe  shel 
ter  at  the  garrison,  together  wilh  sev 
eral  other  families  who  had  suffered  in 
the  same  Indian  raid. 

Col.  Joseph  Cilley,  who  was  born  in 
1793,  was  grandson  of  General  Joseph 
and  Sarah  Longfellow  Cilley.  She  died 
in  1811,  so  that  he  ^emembered  his 
grandmother  perfectly.  Colonel  Cilley 
lived  to  be  past  ninety  years  of  age, 
and  in  his  later  days  delighted  to  talk 
of  his  grandmother.  He  said  he  had 
visited  the  old  garrison  with  her,  in 
which  she  lived  during  Indian  times 
with  her  parents.  One  thing  that  im 
pressed  his  boyish  mind  strongly  was 
the  huge  chimney,  with  the  immense 
fireplaces,  in  the  corners  of  which  one 
or  two  could  sit  comfortably.  The  kit 
chen  had  a  dresser,  so  called,  which 
[filled  the  place  of  the  modern  sideboard. 
Its  capacious  shelves  were  filled .  with 
shining  pewter  platters  and  plates  and 
other  household  utensils.  The  floors 
were  sanded  with  white  sea  sand  and 
were  kept  scrupulously  clean.  Whon 
company  was  to  be  entertained  the 
white  sand  was  switched  into  pretty 
figures  with  hemlock  brooms,  by  the 
skillful  hands  of  the  housewife  or  her 
maids. 

During  the  period  from  1745  to  1760 
the  Indians  made  fi.ioiuent  raids  in  thai 
territory,  stealing  or  killing  cattle  and 
horses.  They  cut  the  flesh  from  the 


bones  and  cut  out  the  tongues,  which 
they  cured  in  smoke  to  preserve  for 
food  on  their  travels.  Frequently  it  was 
dangerous  for  housewives  to  go  out  to 
milk  the  cows  unless  they  had  a  man 
on  guard  with  a  trusty  gun.  When  one 
neighbor  visited  another  an  armed  man 
had  to  go  with  her  for  protection. 

From  the  Nottingham  town  records  it 
appears  that,  "At  a  meeting  of  the  Pro. 
prietors,  held  at  the  block  house  (on 
the  Square),  September  8,  1742,  Mr. 
Jonathan  Longfellow  was  chosen  As 
sessor  for  the  Proprietors,  and  Lieut. 
Joseph  Cilley,  Collector."  These  gen 
tlemen  continued  to  hold  those  offices 
for  several  years  in  succession.  Later 
they  were  brothers-in-law,  Lieutenant 
Cilley's  son,  Joseph,  the  famous  colonel 
of  the  Revolution,  marrying  Mr.  Long 
fellow's  daughter,  Sarah,  November  4, 
1756. 

Again,  August  12,  1752,  the  records 
say:  "Ensign  Jonathan  Longfellow 
was  elected  one  of  the  Selectmen;  also 
was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to 
treat  with  authorities  of  the  town  of 
Durham  relative  to  building  a  highway 
from  Nottingham  Square  to  Durham 
village." 

Frequently,  in  1747,  1748  and  1749,  the 
Provincial  Government  stationed  sol 
diers  at  Longfellow's  garrison  and 
placed  him  in  command.  It  was  their 
duty  to  range  back  and  forth  over  a 
line  fifteen  miles  in  length,  through  the 
forests  from  Rochester  to  Chester,  and 
to  give  protection  to  the  farmers.  Some 
times  as  many  as  thirty  soldiers  were 
on  duty.  The  following  from  the  Pro 
vincial  Records  will  give  an  idea  of  how 
Gov.  Benning  Wentworth  and  his 
Councillors  conducted  the  war  with  the 
Indians  and  French.  It  is  copied  from 
the  Journal  of  the  House. 

"Saturday  29th  August,  1747.  Whereas 


JONATHAN  LONGFELLOW. 


39 


Capt.  Jonathan  Longfellow,  by  a  war 
rant  from  ye  Governor  has  Inlisted 
thirty  men  to  go  out  after  ye  Indians, 
upon  ye  Scalp  bounty.  But  represent 
ing  to  the  House  that  ye  men  cannot 
furnish  themselves  with  Provisions  and 
Ammunition,  therefore: 

"Voted,  That  Sd  Longfellow  be  sup 
plied  with  one  month's  Provisions  & 
fifteen  pounds  of  powder  &  thirty 
Pounds  of  Bullets  for  Sd  men,  he  to  re 
ceive  the  Provisions  from  Coll.  Gilman 
at  Exeter,  Sd  Long-fellow  to  give  a 
Rect  for  ye  same  &  to  account  and 
pay  therefor  if  it  appears  Yt  be  not 
used,  or  if  the  men  recover  any  scalps, 
ye  price  of  ye  Provisions  and  Ammun 
ition  to  be  deducted  out  of  ye  Bounty 
on  ye  Scalps,  &  Yt  Said  Lonarfellow 
keep  a  Journal  of  ye  Time  &  Travel, 
while  he  is  out  on  this  affair,  to  be  ren 
dered  to  ye  Genl  Assembly  on  Oath." 

The  writer  has  not  been  able  to  find 
a  copy  of  Captain  Long-fellow's  journal 
nor  any  statement  of  how  many  Indian 
scalps  were  captured  and  the  amount 
of  bounty  paid. 

Captain  Longfellow  was  one  of  the 
first  to  start  a  movement  which  re 
sulted  in  the  division  of  the  town  of 
Nottingham,  and  the  incorporation  of 
the  town  of  Deerfield.  The  act  of  in 
corporation  was  not  granted  till  Janu 
ary  8,  1766,  at  which  time  Mr.  Longfel 
low  was  in  Machias,  Me.,  having  left 
New  Hampshire  two  years  •before  that. 
The  first  petition  for  it  is  dated  "Not 
tingham,  Febry  23,  1756;"  the  first 
signer  is  Jonathan  Longfellow;  among 
the  other  signers  appears  the  name  of 
Green  Longfellow,  a  younger  brother  of 
Jonathan,  who  was  then  about  twenty- 
five  years  old,  having  been  born  Apri- 
3,  1731.  The  petition  was  probably 
drawn  by  Mr.  Longfellow  and  its  argu 
ments  are  strong  and  well  expressed, 


the  point  of  it  all  being  that  the  in 
habitants  of  the  Deerfield  parish  were 
not  allowed  to  use  their  money  raisetf 
by  taxation  "for  Preaching  the  Gospel 
and  teaching  the  Children,  which  are 
matters  of  Great  importance  to  all  His 
Majesties  Good  Subjects,  etc." 

Mr.  Longfellow  removed  from  Not 
tingham  to  Rye  about  1761,  leaving  two 
of  his  daughters,  Mary  and  Sarah,  who 
had  married  respectively  Nathaniel 
Batchelder  and  Joseph  Cilley,  and  a 
son,  Jacob,  and  a  brother,  Green  Long 
fellow.  Mary  Longfellow  Batchelder, 
above  mentioned,  is  the  writer's  great- 
grandmother,  being  the  grandmother  of 
his  mother,  Betsey  True  Scales.  Not 
much  is  known  of  his  life  at  Rye. 

Captain  Longfellow  removed  from 
Rye,  N.  H.,  to  Cornwallis,  Nova  Scotia, 
in  1764,  where  he  remained  one  year.  In 
1765  they  sent  for  him  to  cross  over  the 
bay  to  Machias,  Me.,  to  build  a  grist 
mill  and  a  saw-mill,  locally  called  the 
"Dublin"  mills.  He  knew  all  about  that 
sort  of  work  from  his  early  training 
and  experience  at  Hampton  Falls, 
where  he  had  been  trained  by  his  father 
and  grandfather.  What  induced  him  to 
emigrate  from  New  Hampshire  to  Nova 
Scotia  is  not  known  by  any  of  his  de 
scendants.  After  settling  in  Machiaa 
he  remained  there  till  his  death,  in 
1774:  He  brought  with  him  to  Machias 
his  wife  arid  three  youngest  sons,  Dan 
iel,  David  and  Jonathan,  aged  respect 
ively  sixteen,  fourteen  and  nine  years. 
Two  or  three  of  his  children  remained 
at  Cornwallis.  There  were  twelve  in 
all,  seven  sons  and  five  daughters.  The 
first-born  was  Stephen,  19  July,  1731; 
the  last-born  was  Jonathan,  28  April, 
1756,  who  died  young  at  Machias.  De 
scendants  of  two  sons,  Nathan,  born  30 
December,  1743,  and  Daniel,  born  16 
December,  1751,  are  living  in  Machias 


40 


GENERATIONS. 


and  other  parts  of  eastern     Maine     at 
this  time. 

Captain  Longfellow  built  the  mills 
and  run  them  and  took  a  leading  part 
in  town  affairs,  holding  at  one  time  or 
another  all  of  the  important  town  of 
fices.  In  1768  he  was  commissioned  by 
the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  a  jus 
tice,  and  held  the  first  court  ever  held 
in  Maine,  east  of  the  Penobscot  river. 
The  court  records  of  Judge  Longfellow 
are  extant  at  Machias,  and  manifest 
knowledge  of  law  and  wisdom  and 
mercy  in  administering  it.  He  was 
moderator  of  the  first  proprietary  meet 
ing  of  the  town  of  Machias,  llth  Sep 
tember,  1710,  and  was  one  of  their  lead 
ing  men  till  his  death,  four  years  later. 


According  to  tradition,  Judge  Long 
fellow  \vas  a  tall,  well-proportioned, 
fine-looking  man.  He  possessed  su 
perior  mental  powers  and  was  a  man  of 
great  executive  ability  as  a  business 
manager.  He  was  an  extensive  land 
owner  in  Nottingham  and  was  reputed 
to  be  very  wealthy,  as  men  then  rank 
ed  in  riches.  He  disposed  of  all  of  his 
holdings  in  that  town  before  going  to 
Nova  Scotia.  That  he  was  esteemed 
by  his  immediate  descendants  is  mani 
fest  by  the  fact  that  grandsons,  great- 
grandsons,  and  great-great-grandsons 
were  named  for  him,  Jonathan  Long 
fellow,  in  families  not  otherwise  bear 
ing  the  Longfellow  name. 


HENRY  A.   WISE'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DUEL 


The  following  extracts  from  an  article  by  Hon.  John  S.  Wise  in  the  Saturday 
Evening  Post  of  June  2,  1906,  gives  informatian  concerning  Henry  Clay's 
connection  with  the  affair  of  Cilley  and  Graves,  which,  though  alleged,  has 
never  until  this  account  been  fully  proved.  Only  that  part  of  the  article  is 
given  which  relates  to  Jonathan  Cilley  : 


The  most  serious  of  my  father's  ex 
periences  in  dueling  was  that  in  the  fa 
mous  Cilley  and  Graves  duel,  into  which 
he  was  dragged,  against  his  will,  to  act 
as  second  for  a  man  he  knew  but  slight 
ly  and  for  whom  he  really  cared  noth 
ing. 

The  Honora/ble  Jonathan  Cilley,  a  gal 
lant,  impetuous,  high-tempered  man, 
entered  Congress  from  Maine  with  the 
oft-avowed  feeling  that  the  members  of 
Congress  from  the  North  allowed  the 
Southern  members  to  hector  and  lord  it 
over  them  too  freely — that  they  ought 
to  respond  to  such  attacks  in  kind,  and 
that,  when  they  had  done  so  a  few 
times,  such  arrogance  would  cease. 

The  following  account  of  my  father's 
connection  with  the  affair  is  cooied 
from  an  original  manuscript  drawn  up 
by  him  and,  as  late  as  1875,  submitted 
to  and  approved  by  his  lifelong  friend, 
the  Honorable  George  W.  Jones,  of 
Iowa,  who  was  Mr.  Cilley's  second.  It 
is  valuable  because  it  has  never  before 
been  published,  and  is  instructive  be 
cause  it  shows  some  of  the  points  of 
finesse  in  the  science  of  dueling.  It  is 
not  published  in  full  because  of  sundry 
strictures  upon  James  Watson  Webb, 


which  only  tend  to  revive  bitterness: 

"According  to  my  recollection  I  was 
not  at  Washington,  but  at  home  in  Ac- 
comae,  Virginia,  when  the  speech  of 
Cilley  was  made  and  published.  I  re 
turned  to  Washington  after  the  time 
when  Webb  engaged  Mr.  Graves'  ser 
vices  as  a  second  and  put  the  challenge 
into  Graves'  hands,  and  he,  Graves,  had 
delivered  it.  At  no  time  did  I  ever  con 
fer  with  Webb  about  the  matter,  either 
alone  or  with  Mr.  Graves  or  others.  He 
knew  nothing  of  my  advice  or  counsel 
to  Mr.  Graves. 

"But  whether  I  had  returned  to  Wash 
ington  or  not,  I  positively  aver  that  the 
challenge  was  delivered  to  Graves  and 
by  him  delivered  to  Cilley,  without  any 
knowledge  or  information  of  the  fact 
on  my  part.  It  was  only  after  the 
challenge  was  tendered  that  I  was  in 
formed  by  Mr.  Graves  or  any  one  else 
of  its  existence.  I  learned  from  Mr. 
Graves  himself,  who  sought  my  counsel, 
all  I  ever  knew,  or  was  informed  of  be 
fore  the  fight,  of  what  occurred  between 
him,  and  Mr.  Cilley  on  the  presentation 
of  the  challenge.  Mr.  Graves'  state 
ment  to  me  was  in  brief  and  in  sub 
stance  as  follows:  He  said,  as  soon  as 


42 


THREE  GENERATIONS. 


he  obtained  a  private  interview  with 
Mr.  Cilley,  he  announced  the  object  of 
his  visit.  He  (Mr.  Cilley)  showed  no 
surprise  and  seemed  to  be  prepared  for 
the  call.  He  immediately  declined  to 
accept  the  challenge,  on  the  sole 
ground  that  he  would  not  admit  his 
responsibility  for  words  spoken  by  him 
in  debate  in  the  House.  Mr.  Graves 
asked  him  to  say  whether  he  declined 
on  the  ground  that  his  principal,  James 
Watson  Webb,  was  not  a  gentleman. 
Mr.  Cilley  replied  that  he  would  not  af 
firm  or  disclaim  any  reason  other  than 
that  he  was  not  responsible  for  words 
spoken  by  him  in  debate  in  the  House. 
Mr.  Graves  then  inquired  whether  that 
was  his  only  ground  of  declining.  Mr. 
Cilley  replied  that  the  only  ground  he 
chose  to  stand  upon  "was  his  irresponsi 
bility  to  an  editor  for  words  spoken  in 
debate  in  the  House.  Mr.  Graves  asked 
him  Whether  that  meant  to  disclaim 
any  other  ground.  Mr.  Cilley  repeated 
that  he  meant  not  to  affirm  or  disclaim 
any  other  ground. 

"Mr.  Graves  informed  me  that,  upon 
this,  he  reported  to  his  principal  that 
Mr.  Cilley  did  not  put  his  refusal  to 
accept  on  the  ground  that  James  Wat 
son  Webb  was  not  a  gentleman  but  up 
on  the  sole  ground  stated.  My  advice 
to  him  was  that  the  reason  exoressed 
was  sufficient,  but  some  one  else  ad 
vised  (whom  I  am  not  and  never  was 
informed)  that  he  ought  to  require  Mr. 
Cilley  to  put  his  reason  for  declining  in 
writing.  I  told  him  that  was  regular 
and  proper,  but  advised  him  to  the  pre 
ferable  course  to  report  his  own  state 
ment  and  submit  it  to  Mr.  Cilley  for 
affirmance  or  contradiction:  that  as 
Mr.  Gilley  put  his  declining  on  the 
ground  solely  of  irresponsibility,  he  was 
justified  in  saying  that  he  did  not  put 
it  on  the  ground  of  Webb's  character  or 


any  other  ground,  and  that  he  had  no 
right  to  demand  of  him  a  disclaimer  of 
any  other  ground.  Upon  this  Mr. 
Graves  drew  a  paper  in  substance,  re 
citing  his  statement,  and  adding  that, 
upon  that,  he  had  reported  and  would 
publish,  if  necessary,  that  Mr.  Cilley 
had  not  declined  on  the  ground  that 
Webb  was  not  a  gentleman.  What  he 
did  with  that  paper  I  am  not  and  never 
was  informed;  but  he  returned  it  to  me 
saying  that  he  could  not  prevail  on  Mr. 
Cilley  to  affirm  or  to  deny  his  state 
ment,  or  to  put  his  only  reason  as«igned 
for  declining  in  writing. 

"I  told  him  neither  was  necessary,  as 
he  had  only  to  make  and  publish  his 
statement  that  Mr.  Cilley  did  not  put 
himself  on  the  ground  that  Webb  was 
not  a  gentleman,  and  leave  the  latter  to 
acquiesce  in  or  contradict  his  state 
ment.  If  he  acquiesced  in  it,  well;  if 
not,  it  would  raise  an  issue  of  veracity 
between  him  and  Mr.  Cilley,  and  I  was 
sure  that  Mr.  Cilley  would  disclaim  any 
impeachment  of  his,  Graves',  veracity, 
whilst  he  could  easily  explain  any  re 
servation  of  his  right  to  express  any 
other  reason  but  the  one  assigned.  Mr. 
Graves  had  in  fact  drawn  a  challenge 
on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Cilley's  course 
impliedly,  at  least,  impeached  his  ver- 
acitv,  but  after  conference  with  me 
alone  he  asked  me  to  meet  him  at  Mr. 
Clay's  room  early  in  the  evening. 

"After  tea,  I  called  with  Mr.  Graves 
on  Mr.  Clay,  and  already  assembled 
there  were  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  John  J.  Crit- 
tenden  and  Mr.  Richard  Menefee.  They 
were  all  consulted.  Mr.  Graves  handed 
to  Mr.  Clay  the  challenge  he  had  writ 
ten.  Mr.  Clay  said  immediately  that 
the  call  was  not  based  on  the  true  is 
sues.  Mr.  Cilley  had  refused  to  dis 
claim  personal  exceptions  to  Webb  and 
by  the  Code  of  Dueling:  Graves  was 


HENRY  A.  WISE'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 


43 


bound  to  demand  such  disclaimer,  or 
stand  in  the  shoes  of  his  principal.  He 
cast  aside  'the  challenge  drawn  by 
Graves,  and  with  his  own  hand  and  pen 
drew  the  challenge  which  was  handed 
to  Mr.  Cilley.  I  immediately  objected 
to  the  form  drawn  by  Mr.  Clay,  for  the 
reason  that  it  put  the  call  upon  a  punc 
tilio  which  never  could  be  and  never 
was  settled  Without  blood;  that  if  Mr. 
Graves  put  his  call  on  the  point  of  his 
own  veracity,  Mr.  Cilley  had  but  to 
disclaim  that,  and  I  was  sure  he  would, 
and  that  would  end  Graves'  interposi 
tion  in  the  affair.  Mr.  Crittenden  and 
Mr.  Menefee  sided  with  Mr.  Clay.  Mr. 
Graves  immediately  copied  the  paper 
written  by  Mr.  Clay,  the  original  of 
which  I  have  kept,  and  Mr.  Graves  de 
stroyed  the  form  of  challenge  written 
by  himself. 

"I  then  declined  to  bear  the  note 
drawn  by  Mr.  Clay  for  reason  of  my 
stated  objection.  It  left  no  room  for 
adjustment  or  explanation  and  the 
meeting  would  necessarily  be  fatal. 
Messrs.  Clay,  Crittenden  and  Menefee 
all  three  protested  with  me  for  declin 
ing  to  act  as  second;  and  I  persisted 
until  Mr.  Graves  with  great  feeling  rose 
erect  on  his  feet  from  his  chair,  and 
said:  'Mr.  Wise,  can  you  expect  me  to 
be  governed  by  your  counsel  alone 
against  that  of  both  the  Senators  of  my 
state  and  colleague  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  Mr.  Menefee,  after  a 
full  hearing  of  your  objections  to  the 
ground  of  challenge, and  after  they  have 
been  overruled  by  older  heads  than 
your  own?  If  you  do,'  he  continued, 
with  his  finger  pointed  to  me,  'I  call 
these  colleagues  to  remember  that  when 
you  were  absent  from  your  seat  in  the 
House,  and  from  the  city  of  Washing 
ton,  I  took  up  your  defense  against  an 
attack  upon  you  by  Mr.  Cilley  and  was 


ready  to  stand  in  your  place  to  meet 
any  and  all  responsibility  for  you.' 
[Note:  Nothing  in  the  printed  debate 
shows  this  alleged  fact.]  'And  now  I 
here  say  to  you  that  I  (have  more  confi 
dence  in  your  skill  as  second  than  I 
have  in  any  other  person;  and  if  you 
will  not  serve  me  and  I  am  brought 
dead  or  wounded  from  the  field,  I  call 
these  gentlemen  to  witness  that  I  shall 
attribute  any  disaster  to  me  to  the 
want  or  absence  of  your  skill  and  ex 
perience.' 

"I  was  touched  deeply  by  this  appeal 
and  said  at  once  with  emotion:  'Mr. 
Graves,  if  you  put  your  request  to  act 
for  you  on  that  ground,  I  am  left  no 
election.  I  will  carry  the  challenge.' 

"I  did  so  the  next  morning,  and  was 
careful  to  keep  Mr.  Clay's  autograoh 
original — and  it  was  well  I  did  so,  as 
after  events  proved.  You  promptly 
brought  the  acceptance  by  Mr.  Cilley 
and  the  terms  of  the  duel  to  me  at  my 
room.  I  was  alone,  with  my  case  of 
new  English  nine-inch  dueling-pistols 
open,  examining  their  order  and  condi 
tion.  You  quietly  tapped  at  my  door.  I 
answered,  'Come  in.'  and  I  can  see  your 
honest  old  face  now,  as  you  entered 
brusquely,  saying:  'Ha!  You'll  have  no 
use  for  them.'  You  looked  at  the  pis 
tols  and  then  handed  me  the  accept 
ance  and  terms.  I  reserved  any  reply 
then,  and  after  a  little  chat  about  the 
rifle  as  a  lawful  weapon  and  my  igno 
rance  where  to  procure  a  reliable  one", 
you  retired. 

"I  sought  Mr.  Graves  and  told  him 
that  I  should  object  to  the  rifle.  He 
again  took  me  to  Mr.  Clay.  At  once 
Mr.  Clay  said:  'He  is  a  Kentuckian 
and  can  never  back  from  a  rifle.'  .  . 

"What  occurred  afterward,  on  the 
field  and  elsewhere,  our  joint  and  sev 
eral  statements  made  immediately  after- 


44 


GENERATION^. 


the  duel  show.  But  there  was  one 
subject  of  reproach  to  you  and  myself, 
which  neither  could  explain  withoui 
damaging-  our  principals.  Mr.  Graves 
had  three  seconds,  Mr.  Crittenden,  Mr. 
Menefee  and  myself;  and  Mr.  Cilley  had 
two  advisory  seconds,  Mr.  Duncan  and 
Mr.  Bynum,  besides  yourself.  Now,  no 
step  was  taken  by  me  without  consul 
tation  and  agreement  with  Messrs. 
Crittenden  and  Menefee;  and  I  am  con 
fident  that  you  acted  with  the  consent 
and  approval  of  Messrs.  Duncan  and 
Bynum.  These  four  gentlemen  were 
just  as  responsible  for  the  whole  con 
duct  of  the  affair  as  you  and  I,  yet  you 
and  I  alone  were  ever  assailed  for  the 
'barbarous  three  exchanges  of  shots.' 
Now  you  and  I  know  that  there  was 
really  but  one  deliberate  exchange  of 
shots;  the  third  time  after  each  party, 


in  turn — Cilley  in  his  first  shot  and 
Graves  in  his  second— had  blundered  in 
his  fire,  and  they  would  not  and  could 
not  leave  the  ground  under  the  acci 
dents  which  would  have  caused  misap 
prehension  and  perhaps  ridicule " 

But  the  Cilley-Graves  duel  made  a 
tremendous  storm  throughout  the  coun 
try.  Nothing  was  done  about  it  offi 
cially,  for  dueling  was  countenanced, 
more  or  less,  but  it  fas  a  long  time  be 
fore  the  bitterness  and  recrimination 
about  the  Cilley-Graves  duel  subsided. 
It  was  brought  up  against  Clay  in  his 
next  candidacy,  and  his  attempts  to 
shuffle  oft'  responsibility  upon  others 
caused  a  breach  between  him  and  my 
father,  who  charged  him  with  selfishly 
seeking  to  relieve  himself  from  the 
odium  of  a  duel  for  which  he,  more 
than  any  living  man,  was  responsible. 


8    1935 


10m-4,'23 


YD  12361 


359130 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


